The College Years: Hikaru Hitachiin
by Spirit Saiga
Summary: Hikaru chose France because it was foreign, extravagant, and far from Japan. He didn't expect to find someone who was also running from their life in another country. HikaruXOC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

After the twins and Haruhi had graduated, the host club found half its members scattered across the world. Hikaru was studying design in France, Kyoya was at Harvard, and Kaoru had taken up residence in San Francisco to study business, while our four remaining members stayed in noble Japan to study at Ouran University.

This particular story revolves around the oldest Hitachiin twin as he lives, studies, and how he finds romance on the streets of the city of Love: Paris, France.

0o0o0o0

Hikaru Hitachiin was easily bored. He was a man with the attention span of a goldfish and the insatiable appetite for mischief. Yes, Hikaru Hitachiin had a puckish side that would not be denied.

His Paris apartment had the greatest view of the Eifel Tower and he wished that he could hear Notre Dame's great Emmanuel ring on the hour. But the bell was only rung for special events and nothing was happening in Paris today. Still if he pictured it in his mind, he could hear the bell's deep bronze baritone resonate through the air.

Paris was a city of wonder, glamour, and romance. It was the place that young couples dreamed of going on honeymoons and vacations. However, Hikaru didn't understand the romantic standing that Paris had. Love wasn't determined by a set of GPS coordinates.

To the young man, love was something that just happened. It had happened to him once with the charming schoolmate named Haruhi Fujioka, but in time he came to realize that his love was unrequited. He had his brother's love, but there was still something that ached in the pit of his stomach, the feeling that he was missing something else in his life.

In an attempt to start a new chapter of his life, Hikaru separated from his twin, his home, and his friends. He wanted to study some place foreign, extravagant, and far from Japan. Halfway around the world wasn't bad. Paris also was a fashion hub, so he could learn a lot.

Hikaru walked out onto his balcony and looked down at the quiet street. He held a small cup of coffee. He watched as the everyday French people went about casually in their everyday routine.

A flash of light caught his eyes as he was observing a man paint on the sidewalk. He turned his attention to the flash of light and found a young woman taking pictures of a bush of blooming coral roses. She had long blond hair that was braided into a thick cord.

Hikaru smirked as he got an idea. He left his apartment and walked down the street. He circled the woman's back and leaned forward next to her ear. "Are roses really that interesting?" he asked.

The woman jumped and whipped around to face the fashion heir. "Oh my god!" she blurted out in quick English. "You scared the crap out of me_."_ She said in French as she turned around.

Hikaru was instantly intrigued. She wasn't French. She was British… no, there was a different sound, Irish? "_Did you get any good photos?"_ Hikaru asked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

The woman looked at her expensive digital camera. She scanned the photos she had. "A couple good ones, a lot of them are blurry."

Hikaru chuckled. "You must not be very good," he said as he grinned. He slid his gaze over and met a pair of grey eyes.

"You're very rude_,"_ the girl said.

"You aren't from around here are you_?"_ Hikaru asked.

"Toronto_,_" the woman said. "Sort of, that's where I came from before. Belfast is home. It's not every day that you see a red headed Asian."

"Are you here on vacation?" Hikaru asked inquisitively.

"No, I live here. I think you could have figured that out by my speaking French. I suppose you aren't here on vacation either._"_ The young woman tilted her head to the side as she discreetly stepped back a little bit.

"I go to college here," Hikaru said with a smile.

The girl looked around uncomfortably. "I need to go; my father is expecting me for lunch." She avoided his gaze. She messed with her camera strap.

Hikaru stared at her in shock. He was having fun talking to her. He liked making her uncomfortable. "Wait, you can't go," he said.

The woman looked at him quickly before turning on her heel. "Yes, I can," she said. "Have a good day," she smiled and waved nervously before he walked away.

Hikaru looked at the rose bush. How could a single flower hold the entire premise of 'Love'. It was a simple living organism comprised of red petals and sharp thorns. Or in this case it was coral petals. Kaoru's flower. The symbol of happiness.

0o0o0o0

Faye Bennett sat in her home and flipped through her freshly printed pictures. She stopped on the last photo she had taken of the red haired Asian with an itching curiosity. He hadn't even noticed she had taken the phot.

Faye lived with her father close to the British Embassy. Her dad was a Chauffer for the Ambassador, and Faye took the chance to see more of the world.

She needed to get out of Toronto anyway. He was there. The man who made her life the horror film it was today. College in Paris seemed like a good idea. She could study art and dream about love. She had one problem with the love thing though. She didn't trust men her age. They made her body freeze in fear. They made her mind race with horrible ideas, and she found herself unfocused and afraid if a man so much as smiled at her.

The red headed Asian was different though. She was still nervous, but not paralyzed in fear like the many times before. She was able to respond to his teasing remarks. Was there something in those amber eyes she just inherently trusted? She thought about going back to the rose bush. Maybe she would see him once more.

0o0o0o0

Hikaru was walking home from lunch when he spotted the blond girl from the day before. Tamaki's obnoxious ranting entered his head. '_Hikaru, go and apologize to the young maiden you terrorized this instant!'_

Hikaru mentally sighed, but jogged over to the girl and her camera. "You're back_,"_ he said.

The blond turned to face him. She pulled her camera close to her body in an attempt to protect herself. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Why are you do quiet?" Hikaru asked. There wasn't a response as the woman gathered the courage to speak.

She looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry. I don't do well with strangers," she held out her hand. "My name is Faye Bennet._"_

Hikaru stared at the hand awkwardly. He smirked and took it in his own. "Hikaru Hitachiin." Perhaps things were about to look up in Paris.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Hikaru was walking around a local farmer's market when he saw Faye snapping pictures with her camera. A basket of fresh fruit and vegetables sat at her feet. He walked up behind her and smirked. "Boo!" he blew into her ear.

Faye jumped away from him and knocked over her basket. She scrambled to pick of the food quickly. She would have to wash them really well when she got back home. She looked up at Hikaru and sighed. "Hello Hikaru," she smiled. "How are you today_?"_

Hikaru bent over and picked up an apple from her basket. It was one of the few food items that hadn't fallen on the ground. "Good_,"_ he said before taking a bite of the juicy red fruit. He just stared at her as she adjusted the food in her basket.

"I'm doing quite well_,"_ Faye said rolling her eyes. "Thank you for asking_."_

"But I didn't ask."

"That's the point Hikaru_,"_ Faye sighed as she rolled her eyes. The red headed Asian had been harassing her for a couple weeks now and they had developed a 'sort-of' friendship. Mostly he followed her around as she took pictures of scenery and of people. She even managed to get a few of him doing something interesting. "You really should be more polite_."_

"Why?_"_ Hikaru asked. He wasn't in front of anyone important. Faye was a friend, but he could be casual around her.

"It's nice to check in on people. It's standard procedure to ask someone how they are doing once they've asked you," Faye stated. "I've been wondering. Your name is Japanese right_?"_

Hikaru looked at her strangely. "Yes_."_

"Are you from Japan?" Faye asked with a slight glimmer of hope.

Hikaru nodded. _"_Are you learning Japanese?" Some of the French students he encountered wanted to use him as practice for language acquisition. He only hoped that she was just one of those girls who was obsessed with the culture, but didn't actually know a lick of Japanese. It was usually less painful.

Faye smirked. "No, I already speak it. I lived next door to a Japanese woman and her son who was only a couple weeks older than me. My parents couldn't afford a babysitter, but she would watch me for free. I started going there before I have my first memory. I spent a large majority of my childhood there and she had a strict Japanese only rule in her house. The only time we spoke English was when her husband was home from work. My cousins speak it too." she explained.

Hikaru examined her sad face. It was like she was remembering a painful memory. "So you speak Japanese too?" he said easily slipping into his native tongue. It felt so much better once he was back to a structure he grew up on. He knew French, English, and Japanese, but found himself more comfortable in English. He really should have gone to San Francisco with Kaoru.

"Mmmhmm," Faye hummed. She grabbed a peach from her basket as she started to walk away. Hikaru followed her quickly.

"So why are you in France?"

"I don't like Canada," Faye answered slipping into a language that only made her more comfortable, but one that allowed her to communicate more. She smiled as she thought about the fact that her life was multi-lingual.

Faye grabbed some fresh tomatoes and paid the vendor. "How can you not like Canada?" Hikaru asked in disbelief. Everyone loved Canada. America was a different story.

"There are people there that I don't like. Ergo, I don't like Canada."

Hikaru stopped. "You're talking more."

"Well the more comfortable I get, the more I'm willing to speak to someone. Plus, I've been speaking Japanese far longer than French. My thoughts are a combination of English and Japanese most days. Practice makes perfect, right?"

"So because we're speaking Japanese, you aren't going to jump every time I say hi?" he asked. Was his fun going to disappear now that she was speaking his native tongue?

"No, I'll stop jumping when you actually say hello to me instead of trying to surprise me," Faye stated dully.

"So what are you studying here?"

"Are, I'm studying art and the process through which we preserve it," Faye smiled.

"My brother's friend preserves and fixes old books," Hikaru stated. He was getting better at this small talk thing. He was almost convinced that Faye actually liked talking to him.

Faye loved art. She loved how art changed through history. She loved being able to look at something and know at what point in history it was produced. She had books full of sketches from the photos she took, and she and even painted a few. She liked to think that she was a dumbed down Ansell Adams/Georgia O'Keefe hybrid. Though she would never be so audacious to say such things out loud.

Hikaru watcher her quietly. A moment ago she was sad, but at the mention of art, she gained a sudden spark in her eyes. She had a peaceful look about her. The thought of art was enough to put her at ease. He wondered what did that for him. Mischief was the likely suspect. He loved his tricks and teasing.

"Why are you getting all this fresh food?" Hikaru asked as she grabbed some potatoes.

"My father is going to make a fresh garden salad, and Sheppard's Pie," Fay answered.

"What's that?"

Faye stopped walking and started at him dumbfounded. "You've never had Sheppard's Pie?" she asked. She came to her own mental realization and hit her forehead with the heel of her palm. "Right. I suppose with you being from Japan, you don't often eat a poor Englishman's dinner."

"What's in it?" Hikaru asked. His curiosity was getting the best of him. What was this meal?

"Mashed potatoes, ground beef, corn, and peas," Faye answered. "My dad liked to have a small bit of beef gravy in it so that it has a more pronounced taste. It's really good."

Hikaru tried to imagine the dish, but he couldn't come up with anything coherent. It sounded like an off mishmash of food that would be good separately, but this was a pie. . . so that meant everything was all together. "How do you make it?"

"Uh… How about you come over to my place and try it," she suggested. "You could even watch my dad make it. He's always talking about how I need to bring over a friend. I guess you work."

Hikaru stopped walking as anger flared up inside him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Faye turned and grinned. "Gotcha'" she said with a hint of a laugh.

The two stared at each other as Hikaru's anger turned into amusement. Faye turned quickly and continued making her way through the market, occasionally dodging the stray Frenchman on his morning stroll. She turned back to look at Hikaru.

"Follow me or get my address," she stated. "Either way, dinner is at seven, and you better brush up on your English."

Hikaru jogged to catch up with her. "What's your dad like? I mean would it be okay if I just showed up?"

Faye laughed. "Looking at him you think he's a big strong lumber jack. If you actually knew him, you'd know that he's a big softy. His Japanese isn't very good despite me teaching him to the best of my ability, but his French is really good. We lived in Toronto, we had to be good at French. Quebec is Ontario's neighbor."

0o0o0o0

Hikaru walked out of Faye's small two story house feeling extremely satisfied. He had discovered a new and simple meal to make and that salad was a great way to start off one's carb filled meal. His cell phone rang and he grinned when he recognized his brother's ringtone. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and answered it casually.

"Hey."

"You had dinner with someone tonight?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru had sent him a text earlier, but no doubt the younger twin was asleep in San Francisco.

Hikaru looked up at a lit window and found Faye standing in front of it holding a paintbrush. "Yes, her name is Faye. Her dad made dinner for us. It was actually good."

"You say that like you were expecting it to be horrible," Kaoru said.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I got tonight."

"Is she pretty?" Kaoru asked. There was something in Hikaru's voice. A smile perhaps?

Hikaru didn't respond as Faye looked out her window to find him standing there looking up at her. She opened her window and leaned through it. "Go home Hikaru, you don't know what kind of weirdo's are going to be stalking the streets of Paris." She said.

Kaoru snickered on the other line as he realized his brother wasn't speaking. "So, what did you do today?"

"I walked around a street market," Hikaru smiled as he made his way home. He waved to Faye and continued talking to his brother.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

Hikaru had decided that he was going to Louvre. His business course would end in thirty minutes, thus signaling the start of the weekend. He slid his gaze to the side to look out the expansive window. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Faye taking pictures of the campus. As he thought about it, this would be the place to study art.

The University of Paris I was part of thirteen colleges that had once been one giant university. This particular University offered degrees in Law, Political Science, Economics, Management, and the Humanities. Hikaru recalled reading something about Art History courses.

Hikaru watched as Faye talked with some girl before walking over to a bike. Hikaru looked at the clock. There was still twenty minutes left of class. He would just have to talk to her later.

0o0o0o0

As Hikaru stood in the Louvre, he felt his thoughts wondering to the conversation he had had with Faye at the Farmer's Market. A picture of the blond leaning over an old art piece flashed into his mind. Her hair had been pinned up with two pencils.

He smiled as he stood in front of Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'. He could see the aspiring artist working to clear the centuries old masterpiece of dirt, grime, and dust.

"Hey Hikaru," Faye's voice came from behind. It held a hint of surprise. As if she couldn't imagine the young Hitachiin visiting the Louvre.

He turned around to see Faye standing in the middle of the polished marble floors. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to look at the Louvre's preservation room," Faye explained. "It's quite amazing actually."

Hikaru nodded he looked at a sketchbook that Faye was holding in on hand. "What's that?"

Faye hugged the book close to her chest. "My own artwork," she smiled gently. Her eyes held a dream like look. As if she wanted to see her art work on a gallery wall next to works by Rembrandt, Da Vinci, or possibly even Goya.

"Can I see them?" Hikaru asked. He wanted to see if she was any good. Art was subjective, but Hikaru had an appreciation for anyone who could capture his interest. Not many people could. Picasso's works interested him slightly, but he wasn't big on Cubism. He did like impressionistic works though.

"Um… Sure, but first, are you hungry?" Faye asked. "Because I'm starving."

Twenty minutes later, Faye and Hikaru were seated on a small café patio. Faye was watching her friend nervously as he looked at her sketches.

Faye had done some homework on the older Hitachiin twin. Google allowed everyone access to any public information, and there was a lot on Hikaru Hitachiin. She had found his host club profile, which made her blush for a half hour. His facebook page said he had over five hundred friends, but chances were he only knew about a hundred personally. Finally she concluded her search with his mother's website for her designs. Each design had a story and sometimes she mentioned the twins as an inspiration for the piece.

Hikaru stopped flipping through the pages of Faye's sketchbook. He looked at the mask. It was a butterfly, and it was the only sketch that Faye had added color too. The wings of the mask were black with neon green, blue, and purple splashed in the symmetrical patterns that butterfly wings kept.

"Did you design this?" Hikaru asked.

Faye looked at the drawing and nodded. She had drawn it two years ago. "Sort of," she answered. "I took the shape from a preexisting masquerade mask. Then I added my own design to the mask, and colored it in."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Faye countered. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms defensively. "I got bored. It happens a lot, so I take an idea and alter it to fit my personality."

"You don't seem like someone who would run around in neon colors," Hikaru stated. He'd only seen Faye dressed in pastels and neutral tones.

"I was," Faye said with a frown. As if that part of her brought back painful memories. "Not anymore though."

"Why not?" Hikaru asked.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm just not that person anymore," Faye stated.

Hikaru stared at her momentarily. He didn't actually know too much about Faye. Only that she had come from Toronto but was born in Belfast, she hated Canada, and what she wanted to do with her life. "Do you design clothes to go with the mask?"

Faye shook her head. "I'm not very fashionable," she said. "I'm sure you are though. What with your mother being a fashion designer."

"You know the Hitachiin line?" Hikaru asked.

"Not until yesterday. I looked at your mother's dresses. They're very pretty," Faye smiled as she took a sip of her coffee.

Hikaru loved his mother's designs. She knew how to make everyone look beautiful. It was something his mother took very seriously. Hikaru and his brother had adopted the same passion for fashion that their mother held. The two of them would take their company to new heights once they finished college.

"Of course, I can't afford anything she makes, but they are pretty," Faye sighed as she thought about the designs.

"Yeah," Hikaru smiled. His smile turned into a teasing grin. "So, what else do you know about me?"

Faye blushed as she thought about the host club. "N-nothing."

Hikaru stood up and leaned over the table as his smirk grew. "Are you sure?"

Faye gulped and leaned back stiffly in her seat. "Hikaru, I need you to back up please," she whispered.

Hikaru got closer instead. "Why?"

Faye jumped out of her seat and snatched up her charcoal pencils. She grabbed the rest of things in a hurry before running off like a bat out of hell.

Hikaru blinked as he watched her run away from him. That had never happened before. Nobody ran away from a member of the host club. Hikaru sat down in confusion and he noticed that Faye had left her sketchbook on the table.

That night Hikaru sat on his bed as he thought about Faye. He'd done something wrong. He knew that much, but he wasn't sure what he had done to make Faye run. His brother sent him an email after Hikaru explained the situation to him. _Perhaps, she doesn't like it when people get that close to her. Something bad could have happened to her, and you reminded her of that when you got close to her. At least that's what Kana said is the likely reason. I agree. Some people have boundaries and you need to realize and respect them._

Hikaru wrote Kyoya a quick email to see if there was anything he could find on Faye Bennet. He looked at the notebook and knew that he would have to go to her place to give it back.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Hikaru sat in his Paris condo as he sketched out a dress. It was relatively simple and lacked the Hitachiin flair seen in every dress made by the family. He grabbed a charcoal pencil and started working on a design that would circle the skirt of the dress. Inspiration dragged Hikaru into a world of world of fabric and sewing needles.

When Hikaru finished the sketch, he realized that he couldn't stop there. Surely he could find a fabric store and actually make the dress. Hikaru pulled his laptop over from the corner of his desk and ran a quick search. He found exactly what he was looking for only a mile away.

0o0o0o0

Wonderland was a chain of high end fabric stores. They also sold top notch costumes, ball gowns, wedding gowns, and dresses. Hikaru would have been hard pressed to find a better place to get the materials he needed. Well had he been near any of the stores his mother bought, than he would have gone there, alas, the closest one was in Milan.

When he entered the large Paris storefront, he was surprised to find Faye seated behind the front counter. Wonderland stores were only run by members of the Chevalier family. "Faye?" he asked.

Faye looked up from her art history textbook. "Hello Hikaru," she greeted. She closed the book and folded her hands politely. "How can I help you?"

"Do you work here?" Hikaru asked.

"I've got to pay for school somehow," Faye said. "My mom got me the job here. Her sister owns this store." What Faye didn't tell him was that it should have been her mother's store to begin with, even if Jane Bennett had no interest in fabrics and costumes. She preferred books and critical analysis of Chaucer.

"You're a Chevalier?" Hikaru asked.

"No!" Faye stated angrily grinding her teeth. "I'm not. I'm a Bennett. My mother is a Chevalier, but even then she isn't accepted as one."

"Why not?" Hikaru asked. He knew that the Chevalier family acted much in the same way that the Ootori family did when it came being stuck up pompous asses, but if you're a Chevalier, you're a Chevalier.

"She's adopted," Faye answered. "Can I help you find something?" she asked shifting into Frencg as a mean looking woman came into the shop.

Hikaru looked at the woman. She had pinned her long platinum blond hair in a tight bun. She wore an expensive suit and her half-moon glasses rested at the edge of her nose.

The woman recognized Hikaru immediately. She'd seen him at fashion shows, in magazines, and a few times at parties. She had been grooming her own daughters Ariel and Jasmine to capture one of the Hitachiin brothers interest. One was in San Francisco, and the other, and probably more successful daughter, was here in Paris.

"Mr. Hitachiin, I hope my niece isn't bothering you. What can I help you with today_?_" the woman asked.

Hikaru stared at the woman blankly. Had he seen her before? She seemed familiar, but he was really only familiar with the older couple that stood at the head of the Chevalier family. Perhaps she was one of the nieces. That could explain the unfamiliarity.

"My name is Gabrielle Chevalier. I run this store," the woman introduced. "My daughter is in your business class. Her name is Ariel_._"

Hikaru nodded in vague understanding. Ariel was a fake red head with an annoying, pig like, laugh. She also paid people to write her papers and she wasn't the brightest bulb in the class.

"So, what are you looking for today Mr. Hitachiin?"Gabrielle asked.

"I'm looking for some fabrics to make a dress," Hikaru said after a moment to process the change in languages for him. Faye and he had been speaking Japanese so unless he was in class, he didn't really deal with French. "Maybe someone to model it later on, but mom has some models living here."

"Any special occasion for this dresses future_?"_ Gabrielle asked winking at the oldest twin.

Faye rolled her eyes. "I'm going to clean up the back," she said. "I hope you find what you're looking for Mr. Hitachiin."

Gabrielle watched Faye leave the main floor and quietly tsked as she shook her head. "You'll have to forgive my niece; she was raised by barbarians it seems. I don't know why I put up with her obscene behavior,_"_ the older woman sighed. "The things we do for family. Right?"

Hikaru looked at the woman, never revealing how shocked he was. Faye was polite and rather nice. What was this woman talking about? He felt like there was something more operating than just regular sibling rivalry.

"Would you mind if I saw the design you had in mind?" Gabrielle asked.

Hikaru pulled the folded sketch out of his pocket and handed it over.

"If you looking for a model, I'm sure Ariel would be happy to help. She just did a shoot for Armani last week in New York."

Hikaru remembered. It was the first time he was able to focus without her obnoxious laugh breaking his train of thought. He remembered telling Faye that he actually didn't have to fight to understand the teacher's garbled French. She had laughed. Did she know that he was talking about her cousin? Probably not.

0o0o0o0

Faye sat on a stool in Wonderland's storage room. It was the only place in the shop that blocked the sound of her aunt's voice up front. At least until her aunt entered the office where the storage room shared a common vent.

If she could find employment elsewhere, she happily would. She didn't really like working for her aunt, if only because by working for her, Faye face more rude remarks and humiliation. There was nothing enjoyable about working at Wonderland. It shouldn't even be named Wonderland. It was more like HalloweenTown, and not the Tim Burton one, the one populated by Freddie Kruger and the Boogieman. Every time Faye stepped foot in Wonderland she was walking into a never-ending nightmare.

Every terrible thing that had happened to Faye could be traced back to the Chevalier family. Perhaps it was because her mother was not one by blood and therefore wasn't treated like one. It seemed like Faye's grandparents hadn't thought things through when they brought her mother into the family. Things weren't the same since Faye's parents and grandparents were kicked out of the much larger family circle.

Gabrielle, not wanting to lose her social standing and all of the financial support provided by the Chevalier family head and Faye's great grandmother, had forsaken her own parents and sister. She took Faye on as an employee just so that she could tell Faye every day how much she messed up by opening her mouth.

The Chevalier Family had ties to every bad thing that had happened to Faye, but every bad thing that was happening to her family was all Faye's fault and there was nothing she could do to fix it.

0o0o0o0

Later that night as Hikaru sat in his room, he decided to look at the information Kyoya had sent him on Faye for the first time since he got it a week ago. He didn't want to pry, but after what he saw in Wonderland today, he could couldn't help but wonder why Faye wasn't treated well by her aunt.

What he saw included in the information was enough to make his blood run cold. At the top of a front page newspaper article in bold print were the words: _Ambassador's Son Arrested for Assault_.

Hikaru sat stunned for a moment as he scanned the article. The entire article told him what he needed to know, but he had to call her and hear it from her mouth. Hikaru grabbed his cell phone and dialed his friend's number.

"Hello?" Faye asked quietly. As if she didn't want anyone to know that she was on the phone.

"What happened between you and the ambassador's son?" Hikaru asked. It couldn't be true.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Hikaru blinked when he heard the phone line go dead. "Faye?" he asked. He looked at the phone and closed it slowly. He stood up and looked at his room. He needed to know. It was in his nature to be curious. Finding articles like this one, they only created more questions.

Hikaru dialed his brother. Maybe Kaoru could tell him what he did wrong. He would pick up. Kaoru always picked up. That was something he could always count on when it came to being a twin. Twins were always a part of the other. They would be together forever, through the ups and downs. Twins shared a special bond, and Hikaru was relying on that bond to help him.

"Hikaru, shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?" were the first words out of Kaoru's mouth, and they were certainly not the ones that his brother wanted to hear.

Hikaru looked out his window at the Paris night life. "I figured something out about Faye," he said as he took a breath. "And, when I asked her about it, she hung up on me." The older brother was hurt that someone could hang up on him. That never happened. Even Tamaki didn't hang up on Hikaru Hitachiin.

"What did you find out?" Kaoru asked, interested in his brother's newest toy and curiosity. Hikaru could mentally picture his brother sit forward in his seat.

"She was the victim in an assault back in Canada," Hikaru said walking back over to his bed. He picked up on of the printed articles and looked at Faye's photo and story splayed across the paper.

"And you flat out asked her about it?" Kaoru said slowly. "That isn't a 'Hey, look what I found' topic. Why did you ask her about it?" It was clear that Kaoru was judging his brother's tact. Or lack thereof.

"She's my friend," Hikaru stated defensively. "I wanted to know why she was skittish around everyone. Could this be why her aunt is so mean to her?" Suddenly, things started to make send to the older twin, and he started to regret his behavior. The same way he did back when Haruhi slapped him.

"Hikaru, you don't ask people about assaults," Kaoru said. "You should drop the issue, and apologize for being so daft."

"How can I drop it now?" Hikaru sighed. He knew his brother was right, but he didn't always like to admit that Kaoru was the wiser twin. It was a age thing. Hikaru was the older twin and he thought that being educated on tact by his own brother was terrible.

"I don't know," Kaoru responded. "I have to go. Kana's mad at me for not buying food, so we're going out to dinner."

"You sound like the two of you are married," Hikaru scoffed.

"Got to go," Kaoru said before hanging up.

Hikaru fell back on his mattress. He was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. He wanted answers, but he knew that he overstepped the boundaries he had been given. He would have to talk to Faye, but he didn't think he would get the answers he wanted.

If he wasn't going to sleep, then he was going to sew. Keeping his hands busy would allow him to work out his frustration and his mind could wander freely. He would finish the dress he had started, and maybe he would start another. He would figure something out. He had to figure something out if he wanted to keep one of his only friends in Paris.

0o0o0o0

Hikaru slowly walked around his campus keeping an eye out for Faye. He really wanted to talk to her. He wanted to make sure that he was okay. Last night, he realized that calling Faye on the phone was rather uncouth. Haruhi would have called him on it. The same way she had called him on his actions many times before. One day, he would find someone like Haruhi Fujioka. Not an exact copy, but someone who made him smile the way Haruhi could. If he could find someone like that, he would set. He would be happy.

Hikaru sat down on a bench and let out a deep sigh. The campus was large, and Faye studied in a different part of the school. There would be no way to just 'happen' upon the blond. He was ready to give up and head home so that he could start on some homework for his business class.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sara_,"_ Faye's voice came from behind the older twin. He stood up and turned around recognizing the accented French.

"Faye!" he called.

The blond whipped around and looked at Hikaru in shock. She ducked her head down and started walking away from the Hitachiin. She held her bag full of art supplies close to her body as she mentally cursed.

The red head jumped over the bench and ran to catch up with his friend who was speed walking to a bus stop. "What do you want?" Faye grumbled as she kept her eyes on the ground.

"Can you please slow down?" Hikaru asked.

"Leave me alone. Haven't you had enough fun already?" Faye snapped, briefly glancing up at him. She clutched the strap of her bag tighter as she became nervous.

"Can we talk about that?" Hikaru almost sounded desperate.

Faye stopped and glared at him. "How could you do that?" she asked. "How could you go digging through my life?"

"I didn't mean to find it all. I just wanted to know more about you," Hikaru tried to explain. For him, it didn't seem like Faye understood that. He wondered what she would say if he told her that it was Kyoya who did that digging. Did that make him any less culpable? Not really.

"So you ask me!" Faye shouted, drawing several students' attention. "You don't go searching the internet to find some juicy bone that you can sink your teeth into." The angry young woman turned around and stalked off.

Hiakru quickly rushed to keep talking to her. He wasn't ready to let her just run away. It was now or never. "You haven't told me anything about you. How else was I supposed to find out about one of my friends?"

Faye stopped again. "Hikaru, I don't talk about that day. Nobody believed me, so I packed up what little life I had left and moved to Paris. I came here to get away from my family's disapproving stares, and quiet whispers. I came here to study art, and make new friends. One's who didn't see my stigma. If people find out what happened, then I lose everything again!" Tears brimmed up in her eyes as she bit her lip. She couldn't stay on campus if she was going to cry. "I have to go."

Hikaru reached out and grabbed Faye's arm. He looked at her. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. He pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry," he repeated sincerely.

Faye blinked and after a moment she buried her face in his chest as she trembled. She wanted to run away, but Hiakru was stronger, and probably faster. His apology was sincere, and Faye needed friends who knew a little bit of what she had gone through.

"Hikaru," Faye spoke quietly. "I really need to go home. My mother returned home from London today."

Hikaru let Faye go and looked at her "Can I come with you?" he asked. "Your mother has been in London since we met."

"She was a guest lecturer at one of the universities there," Faye explained as she straightened her shirt out. "I don't suppose you can meet my mother another time? I'm still really angry. I just don't have the energy to yell at you. Give me a few days, please?"

Faye left Hikaru standing on the campus grounds. Hikaru watched her walk away as he frowned. He thought that apologizing would make things right. He started walking again, determined to make it home so that he could talk to his brother. He also had to put the finishing touched on his new dress. He needed to distract himself again.

0o0o0o0

Faye sat on her bed and quickly typed on her laptop. Thoughts of Hikaru slowed her fast tapping. She pulled her hands away from her essay on the Rococo period and looked at her cell phone. She had a couple acquaintances at the school, but no real friends. College consumed her entire schedule. She studied, and she worked. It was a routine and it worked. She kept the customers happy at her aunt's shop, but in doing so she lost valuable time for studying. College was expensive though, and her parents didn't make a huge sum of money now that they didn't have the family connections and her mom didn't have a permanent position at Oxford.

Faye picked up her phone and looked up Hikaru's number. She stared at it for five minutes before she hit the call button.

"Hello?" Hikaru answered.

"Hi," Faye struggled out. Her throat constricted as she tried to speak.

"Faye?" Hikaru questioned.

"Can we talk?" Faye choked out finally. "Tomorrow? La Petite Bakery? Near campus."

She could hear Hikaru as he thought about her question and a part of her said that he would decline. After all she rejected his help earlier. "Yes, how about I buy lunch," he suggested.

Faye let out a sigh of relief and thanked him before hanging up. She put the phone down and found that she was able to type much faster with a bit of the weight gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Hikaru sat inside the small café with a cup of coffee in front of him. He was looking at a letter from Tamaki and he couldn't help but smile. Everyone else emailed the elder Hitachiin, but the Suoh heir wanted to put pen to paper. He wrote letters to Kaoru, Kyoya, and Hikaru weekly.

Tamaki talked about how both Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai had taken a liking to some girls in Tokyo. Kyoya and his roommate were engaged in a battle of wits and Tamaki was sure that Kyoya was going to lose, but Hikaru doubted it. The Shadow King could win any game. Meanwhile, Haruhi was studying hard at Ouran University. Things were going well for Hikaru's friends. He just wasn't around to see any of it.

Hikaru looked up when the café door opened. Faye came walking in. She was wrapped up in a light sweater, and wore a beret. She spotted Hikaru from the door and smiled slightly. She walked over a Hikaru stood up. Faye glanced at the letter. "Did I come in the middle of something?"

"My friend likes to write letters. I finished reading it before you came in," Hikaru explained.

"That's nice of your friend. I'm sure it's hard to stay in contact with your friends when you're here in France," Faye said as she took a seat across from him. "How were your classes?" she inquired. She picked up a small menu and looked at it casually. She was just trying to avoid the interrogation that was sure to come from Hikaru. She had to remind herself that this was something that she has asked for she wanted someone to talk to.

"It was pretty boring," Hikaru admitted with a shrug. "I texted my brother through most of my business class."

"Gee, I hope you were paying attention," Faye mumbled. Her phone was always safely tucked away in her bag. When you're learning about preservation of renaissance art, you couldn't afford to be distracted by outside influences.

"My mom already taught me everything I need to know," Hikaru shrugged. This wasn't unusual. Parents who knew that their children would be taking over the family business always took their children under their wing. And what family couldn't teach you, Ouran Academy did. Hikaru could afford not to pay attention to one lecture on mergers and acquisitions.

Faye took a deep breath as a bubbly waitress came to talk to the two of them. Faye ordered a scone and hot tea. Hikaru waited for the waitress to walk away.

"You wanted to talk?" Hikaru asked quietly.

"I can't talk about it all," Faye said quietly as she rubbed her hands over her jeans. She had to mentally tell herself that she could do this.

"Okay."

Faye bit her lip. "I don't remember much about what happened that night, but everything after that is ingrained in my head. I lost all of my friends; my parents were the only people who believed me. Well not the only ones, but they were the ones that mattered. I guess they saw something in him that I couldn't. My dad lost his job in Toronto because I was labeled a liar. The ambassador here had hired my dad before, and he didn't really like the other guy, so he gave Dad a job here. I applied to Univeristy so I could start over. France was a hugely artistic center in the past, so I got the chance to study something that I love. When I'm done here I'll go to Lyon probably for advanced studies."

Hikaru looked at Faye's sad eyes. It reminded him of the look Tamaki got before things were fixed with his family. Hikaru looked around to make sure no one was trying to listen in on their conversation. "If they didn't believe you, then you shouldn't consider them family," he said simply. "Family is there through everything."

Faye bit her lip again. "I can't just forget everything that I had been through with them. I had so many happy memories with them, and when I need them, they turned their backs on me." She felt herself choke on those last words. It was still way too painful for her. Faye sniffed but quickly composed herself. She promised herself that she would tell Hikaru everything, but she wouldn't get emotional.

Hiakru stood up and held out a hand as he put on his best hostly smile. He had an idea. A school event was coming up and some time away from disapproving eyes would be great for her. "Would you do me the honor of attending the schools fashion show with me?" he asked.

Faye looked at him in shock. "What?" she asked. She blinked and turned her gaze to his hand. "I-I can't," she said.

"Why not?" Hikaru asked. "The fashion show helps local charities. It would be a great way to get your mind off of all of this disaster. It'll be fun."

"I don't have anything to wear," Faye said shaking her head. "I mean, you can't go to a fashion show in jeans and a t-shirt."

"Come with me," Hikaru suggested. "We can find something for you to wear. We'll prove your family that you don't care what they think."

Faye swallowed and tentatively put her hand in his. It was so warm and so kind, she couldn't help but smile. He wrapped his fingers around her hand and gently pulled her from her seat. He would do his best to make her feel comfortable and happy today. Even after everything, he didn't want her to feel like it was some horrible feeling that had consumed her for so long.

A half hour later, Hikaru sat in a dress boutique. He was waiting patiently for Faye to try on several of the dresses that would make Faye look her very best. He was determined to make this upcoming event a fantastic experience for the two of them. She was one of his only friends in Paris, and it was always worth it to go to a party.

"I don't know how I feel about this one," Faye spoke from behind a closed dressing room door. Her voice was unsure and timid. It made Hikaru smile because he could easily see the look on her face. She was surely biting her lip as she did when she got nervous.

"Just let me see what it looks like," Hikaru whined impatiently. He bobbed his leg quickly and stood up. He folded his arms across his chest. "Come on there are other dress shops to look at. We haven't got all day."

The dressing room door opened, and Faye slowly stepped out. She stood barefoot in a short knee length halter dress. It was a light blue dress that seemed to flatter every curve of her petite body. She scratched her leg with her other foot as she clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the ground. Hiakru motioned her to spin. The dress was cute and it suited her, but something didn't feel right. It was like it was all off. He put a finger to his chin and smirked.

"I have a better idea," he said. "I'll make you a dress. These are good, but they aren't great."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

Faye sat on Hikaru's bed looking at a French textbook. She scanned the words and took in all the knowledge about the French Revolution. She briefly looked up when Hikaru entered the room carrying a handful of fabrics. He dropped them lightly on his desk. "You're always working on homework," he told her with a grunt.

"There's a lot to do," Faye answered as she flipped the page. She smiled as she eyed him from across the room. "I work on the weekends, so I don't have a lot of free time. Homework is important for me to pass school."

Hikaru walked over and read the book upside down. "French History," he hummed. "Why would you want to take a class like that?"

"It's sure to be interesting," Faye said. "Back in Toronto, we only spent a couple weeks on French History in my world History course."

Hikaru nodded. It was similar in Japan. Very little time was spent on World History. Hikaru was well versed in the rich culture that went along with Japanese History, and he knew a bit more about the more affluent countries like the U.S. and the United Kingdom, but he didn't know as much as someone who grew up there. He supposed that eventually he would sign up for a French History course, but he was more concerned with the business classes he was taking.

"I need you to stand up," Hikaru said getting back to business. He grabbed a measuring tape off the top of the fabric pile. "I need to get accurate measurements if I'm going to make your dress."

"I'm still of the opinion that buying a dress would be better," Faye said as she crawled off the bed and stood up. "Making a dress takes time. Don't you have to study?"

Faye had her arms crossed over her chest and her hip was tucked out slightly as she placed all of her weight on one leg. She blew her feathery bangs out of her eyes and looked at Hikaru.

"What about your studying," Hikaru countered. "You spend all of your time walking around Paris taking photos."

"Photography happens to be one of the classes I'm taking," Faye said stubbornly. "We started portraits this week."

"You weren't taking portraits of people down on the street," Hikaru retorted. "It's all the shop fronts," he moved to adjust Faye's posture. Everything had to be right.

"I was actually hoping I could photograph you," Faye said before she bit her lip and obligingly held her arms up so that Hikaru could measure her bust and waist. She furtively looked away when Hikaru glanced up at her.

"What kind of portraits do you have to submit?" Hikaru asked.

"Profile, one with a dark background, light background, outdoor, indoor, white, stuff like that," Faye listed while she looked up at the ceiling.

Hikaru shrugged and kept a mental log of what numbers he was coming up with. "Okay. We could some of it tonight if you want," Hikaru said. "If you'll do something for me."

"I should have known that was coming," Faye grumbled. She sighed and met Hikaru's amber eyes. "What do you want, Hikaru," she said with a long sigh.

"My mom is coming to Paris next week," he said. "Will you have dinner with us?" he continued to measure.

Hikaru felt Faye tense up. He figured it was due to the fact that he just asked her if she would have dinner with one of the top heads of the fashion world. It had made some people falter already. That or they tried to become best friends with Hikaru. He preferred when they ran the other way and he wished Ariel would join them.

"She's coming for the fashion show. Judging the new talent," Hikaru said.

"Do I have to bow when I see her?" Faye asked. "I mean that's what you do in Japan. You bow when you greet each other, correct?"

"It's polite, but not necessary," Hikaru said. "If you go to Japan with me though, you probably should bow."

"Why would I go to Japan with you?" Faye asked. She groaned when she realized what she had said. "I mean… When would I have the time? I want to see Kyoto and Okinawa, but I have school and work."

"You should come for the holidays then," Hikaru said. He wouldn't mind introducing the host club to Faye. If only to prove that he wasn't alone in Paris. Tamaki had sent another letter and he was convinced that Hikaru was going to die of loneliness.

Faye laughed and her voice was full of mirth. "Money is required for travel, Hikaru," she pointed out. "Money I don't have."

"But your family is rich," Hikaru said. "One trip can't be bad."

"Disowned," Fayed reminded the red head. "Mom and Dad only make so much, you know. Mom goes back to England for her school next week. Dad is just a driver. Our money goes to our living expenses and a part of my schooling. My job at my aunts is what pays for the rest of my schooling, and that's barely enough."

"I could pay for you to come," Hikaru said as he measured the length of her leg.

"No!" Faye said sharply. She stepped away from him and started collecting her things as rage built up inside her. She grabbed her coat and started pulling it on. "I'm not a charity case, Hikaru. I do just fine on my own."

"I'm not done measuring," Hikaru said irritably. "Why are you packing up?

"I think it's fairly obvious," Faye huffed. "I'm leaving!" She snapped her history book shit and shoved it into her shoulder bag roughly.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "What are you so temperamental?" he asked.

Faye froze on her way to the door. "What do you mean temperamental?" she yelled. She turned on him and pointed a stiff finger at him.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow and cross his arms. She was certainly proving his point, and he was inclined to let her continue.

"You're the one who opens his mouth before he thinks about the effect of what his words might have," Faye stated. She started a list by counting on her fingers. "First you dig into my personal life. Then you asked me about the ambassador's son. Now, you offer to pay for a trip that is probably more than 50,000 yen. You're troublesome Hikaru Hitachiin."

"How is a vacation a bad thing?" Hikaru asked raising his voice to match hers.

"Because I didn't earn it!" Faye shouted back. "I work hard for everything I have. If something is just handed to me, than how have I worked for it?"

"What about gifts?" Hikaru asked.

"That's different," Faye sighed as she rubbed her temples. All of this shouting was starting to make her head hurt.

"So, a trip to Japan would be a gift. It is something you want, right?" Hikaru shrugged and looked at her curiously.

"That's too much to spend on a friend you've only known since August," Faye moaned unhappily. Why couldn't the big stupid red head understand this?

"So, it would be different if I had known you longer, or if we were more than just friends," Hikaru summarized.

Faye eyed him suspiciously. What was going on with his reasoning? She suddenly didn't like where this was going. "Yes?" she asked herself. "Yes," she repeated more sure.

Hikaru nodded while a playful smile played on his lips. "Okay," he said simply. "I won't pay for you to go to Japan during the holidays," he said. "Can you please stay so that I can finish the measurements?"

Faye backed up and looked at him through narrowed eyes. "I don't like the look in your eyes, Hikaru," she said warily.

Hikaru remained silent as he pulled Faye gently back towards him. He resumed his measuring as he let his mind wander slightly. "What should we do for dinner? You'll be staying, right?" He had overstepped again and he had to tell himself that he had to be more careful about those kinds of things.

Faye nodded. "I could make something. Do you like fish?" she asked.

Hikaru stepped away a moment later. "I'm not in the mood for fish. We can go out. You can take your camera, and then we can get your photo project partially done. There's a Chinese place around the block."

"Okay," Faye said quietly. She looked at the pile of fabric on his desk and bit the inside of her cheek. "Can I see the design for your dress?"

Hikaru shrugged and turned to his desk. He grabbed a large sketchbook and flipped through it to a page. When he held it out to Faye, she took it gingerly in her hands. "I think you would look good in the pastels, possibly some darker colors as well. No medium tones."

The page Faye was looking at was covered in multiple drawing of the same sleeveless scoop neck tea-length dress. Each dress was a different color, and next to it was a list of possible accessories. The sketched mannequins wore different hairstyles ranging from light curls to a tight bun.

The dress was simple, but elegant. It certainly wasn't characteristic of one specific designer. It was the most basic design underneath sequins, glitter, and furl. The skirt of the dress was given extra body with a petticoat. Faye loved it.

Hikaru started picking at a pile of fabric. He was mentally going over the design. Given the fact that Faye had to be comfortable, he would have to make a petticoat out of a softer fabric than crinoline. It was too stiff for his liking, and he preferred the touch of cotton for such things. The dress itself was going to be a delicate cotton. It would be soft to the skin and nice to look at. Maybe a dark pink would be a good color.

Faye pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the design. She wanted to look at it later. She looked up to find Hikaru examining several shades of pink. She curled her lip back in disgust. "Don't you dare put me in pink."

Hikaru looked at her and dropped the colors on the desk. "Purple?" he asked.

Faye smiled and nodded. "I like purple. Well… I like every shade but Royal purple. It's a little too dark for me. There's a little more blue than red."

Hikaru nodded. He wouldn't have put her in a dark purple anyway. It would make her look pale. Her skin tone was more suited for spring and summer colors. He picked up to shades of purple and walked over to his friend. After holding each fabric next to Faye's face, he nodded in satisfaction as he tossed the pastel purple to the side and kept the brighter, more noticeable purple. Though he told himself that the fabric was likely to change.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

Faye held up her camera and snapped a picture of the Eiffel Tower. Hikaru stood next to her with his hands shoved in his pockets. Faye turned quickly and snapped a shot of Hikaru in profile with a small giggle she turned to snap some candid shots of tourists and the landscape

Hikaru looked at her. "Did you just take a photo of me?"

"I got a great profile shot. You looked so pensive." Faye turned the back of her camera to face Hikaru and showed him the profile shot. "I think I'm going to edit the photo so that only your scarf has color," Faye reached out and adjusted the purple and violet checkered scarf.

"Why?" Hikaru asked.

"Because it's so interesting." Faye used her pinky to point at Hikaru's mouth. "You were smirking slightly. What was going on in that mind of yours?"

"I was just thinking about my brother and this merger thing," Hikaru said. "It makes for an interesting turn of events."

"That's Kana's family, right?" Faye asked. She started scrolling through her photos as she spoke. She bit the inside of her cheek when she saw the photo of Yuzuha kissing Hikaru on the cheek. She was going to include it in her portrait collection, and decided like Hikaru's scarf, Yuzuha's deep red lips would be the only color in her photo. "It sounds like a solid plan."

Yuzuha Hitachiin had arrived in Paris two days ago and spent an afternoon with her son. Faye had shown up to do a couple of portrait shots and ended up getting on Yuzuha's good side.

Today, Hikaru and Faye were finishing up her portraits and then meeting Yuzuha for lunch at the café below the Eiffel Tower. Faye had offered to let mother and son spend time together, but apparently she couldn't get away that easily. Tomorrow was the fashion show and Faye's dress was done. She wasn't sure how Hikaru had pulled it off, but he had, and the dress was perfect.

Hikaru waved a hand between her camera and her eyes. "Hey, we have to go meet my mom now," he said.

"Sorry, right," Faye sighed as she turned her camera off. "Shall we go then?" she adjusted her backpack and followed Hikaru down a gravel walkway. Faye stayed close to Hikaru as they walked shying away from some of the men that were walking towards them looking rowdy and reckless.

Hikaru took hold of her elbow gently and guided her away from the men without so much as a word. Over the past couple weeks since he had found out about her past the two had come to a silent understanding that Faye just didn't like to be surprised and that large groups of men made her feel uncomfortable. Hikaru was careful not to tease her too much and they avoided crowded centers. For that, Faye was comfortable and opened up more around him. He could actually consider the two of them good friends at this point, and that was a development that he was actually happy to report to Kaoru and Tamaki.

"Thank you," Faye said. She smiled at him and it was one of those sincere smiles that reached her eyes. The kind that made them sparkle.

"It's nothing," Hikaru said as he felt his cheeks heat up.

0o0o0o0

Faye apologized as she stood up from the table to take a phone call. She said that it was her cousin calling. She excused herself from the table and left Yuzuha and Hikaru seated alone. Yuzuha used her napkin to dab at the edges of her mouth. "She's very nice, Hikaru."

Hikaru looked over his shoulder to make sure that she was far enough away. "Yeah," he agreed. He took his last bite of a piece of cake he had been nursing for a while. "She's quiet though."

"Maybe that's what you need," Yuzuha said. "After all, with Kaoru in America, you're here alone and missing his stabilizing force. Perhaps, Faye is the answer to that. You did tell me that she doesn't shrink and falter when you mess with her. She just tell you that you did wrong."

"Kaoru still does that, mom," Hikaru said. He placed his chin in the palm of his hand.

"Chastising you over the phone doesn't have the same effect."

"The Chevalier family is a terrible family," Hikaru said as he started messing with his napkin. "You should see how Faye's aunt treats her. Calls her names, says she's uneducated when the truth is that the cousin is the one that pays people to write her essays. Faye works hard. They don't."

"Why do you think that I avoid business dealings with them?" Yuzuha said. "After the situation in Toronto with the ambassador's son, the way the Chevalier family handled it was wrong."

"So you know about it?" Hikaru asked perking up slightly. Was he the only one who didn't know.

"I'm aware of the basics. I know that Faye's father was reassigned here to the UK ambassador and Faye came with him. I know that her mother lost her job as a full time professor at Oxford and can only guest-lecture. I know that the media tried to paint your friend as a liar and her running to Paris was just proof of her deceit. I know that Faye got the short end of the stick in all this and I don't like it." Yuzuha got more and more aggravated as she talked, waving her hands around wildly. "You know that her mother is a brilliant literary critic. She's an expert on the Renaissance period and wrote heavily on English Domestic Tragedies. It's just a waste that she can't get a full time position and that her husband is almost living in exile here in France."

"This really bothers you, doesn't it, mom?" Hikaru asked.

"It's a very serious situation!"

"What is?" Faye asked walking up. She tucked her phone in her shoulder bag.

"The merger," Yuzuha supplied easily.

"It's your dream isn't it?" Faye asked. "Dream Design."

"Akane's too, but she's gone."

Faye sat down and smiled at Hikaru. "How do you feel about it?" she asked.

"Kana's grandparents disowned their daughter over a marriage. It seems like it belongs in a Shakespearean play."

"It is," Faye said. "It's called _A Midsummer Night's Dream, _and love wins. Sort of." She turned on her camera and held it out for Yuzuha to look at.

"Oh did you finish your project?"

"Your son is very photogenic," Faye said smiling at Hikaru. "I was actually thinking of editing some of the photos to black and white with color only on one thing. Like when you're kissing Hikaru on the cheek, only your lips would be color."

"Oh! I like that idea," Yuzuha said. "What about this one?" she showed the profile of Hikaru with his smirk and scarf.

"The scarf," Faye smiled. "The checkered pattern and its texture make it pop already, but imagine if it was in black and white? It's such a great scarf to showcase."

"Are you sure you aren't meant for the fashion world?" Yuzuha asked with a wink. She scrolled through more of the photos and looked at Hikaru. "Hikaru, what do you think of Faye's photography?"

Hikaru blushed as he looked at the table. "It's really good." He said. He grabbed his coffee cup and took a gulp. He really did like Faye's photography. She messed with real film and he saw some really cool photos of film that had be pre exposed to light. She managed to get some amazing effects on another project involving landscapes that she had taken from his roof. She caught the sunset at just the right time. He imagined that if she wanted to, she could put her photos in a gallery and they would sell.

Faye shivered slightly with the sudden gust of wind and she looked at the watch on her wrist. "I should probably go. I have to develop some film and I need to get started on the editing for my portraits. Thank you so much for having me for lunch Mrs. Hitachiin," she said. She pushed back her chair and smiled at the two. "I'll see you tomorrow for the fashion show, yeah?" she asked.

"Of course, dear," Yuzuha smiled grabbing Faye's hand to keep her from leaving before she could get the last word in. She squeezed the girls hand comfortingly. "Be sure to show up at Hikaru's early so I can style your hair and work on your makeup."

Faye smiled and nodded. She patted her shoulder bag as she picked up her camera. She waved good-bye to Hikaru and turned to leave.

"Bye, Faye," Hikaru said with a small smile. He turned to his mother. "I sure she can do her own makeup."

Yuzuha smiled. "I'm sure she can, but I have other ideas as well," she said with a smirk that made it painfully obvious where the twins got their mischievousness. "You like her don't you?"

Hikaru opened his mouth to object only to stiffen up and look away with a pout on his lips. "What does it matter?"

"She likes you, too," Yuzuha said. "I can see it in the way she shares with you. The way she leans in. She trusts you not to hurt her. She let me touch her while you were around." Yuzuha pushed her cup away and stood up. "Come on, I need to start sketching out some designs.

"Mom, what are you planning?"

"You can't go to a fashion show with Faye as your date with out matching outfits." Yuzuha pulled her purse over her shoulder and started marching towards the nearest taxi pick up zone.

"Mom, no!" Hikaru groaned as he followed her. He jogged slightly to catch up. "No matching outfits. That's a little obvious don't you think?"

"I want obvious. What part of sensation don't you understand?" Yuzuha said referring to the scheme to have eyes on Kaoru's mystery wolf girl. "Oldest Hitachiin twin and date wow crowd in matching and fashionable ensemble. We keep eyes off the board and the merger and Rae Miyagi will work her magic with the legal parts."

"Isn't that Mori's girlfriend?"

Yuzuha grinned. "So you have been paying attention to Souh's letters!" she said clapping. "I saw the letters your keeping in the flat. I always knew you were a sweet boy." She grabbed her oldest son in a sideways hug and kissed him on the head. "Now come, I need you to meet Rae. If she was a lawyer I would have her on retainer."

"But she is a lawyer, she just handles mediation instead," Hikaru groaned.

"I guess I should talk to her then," Yuzuha whispered.

0o0o0o0

The next day, Faye entered Hikaru's flat and looked around at all of the clothes that had been tossed about. It was a frenzied chaos that Faye found oddly comforting. Hikaru was standing in front of a mirror. He was working on a complicated knot for his light purple tie. Faye walked over and shook her head. "I don't understand. You wear a tie every day in high school and suddenly you can't in college."

"Kaoru would tie it for me," Hikaru said as he blushed. He looked down as Faye's fingers quickly pulled the tie into a full Windsor knot. She laughed at the t-shirt and jeans he wore knowing that he likely wouldn't change for another few hours.

"Looking sharp Hitachiin," Faye grinned. He smiled back down at her.

"Faye!" Yuzuha said bursting from the bedroom. She held Faye's dress in her hands. "Brilliant. I'm gong to have you get into this dress after we do your hair. I have this brilliant idea that will make you standout and look beautiful at the same time. How do you feel about dying your hair?"

"I used to do it all the time when I lived in Canada," Faye answered. "I mostly messed with highlights and streaks of red and black, but it limited my choices for clothes sometimes, so I ended up stopping. Why?"

"Because I think pastel purple with streaks of a darker purple and blue would look really great in a fishtail braid. Your hair is so thick that you could get a really interesting pattern and look." Yuzuha said. She was dressed in a t-shirt in sweats. Likely because she was about to mess with hair dye.

"Purple hair," Faye said slowly as she thought it over. She looked at Hikaru who only shrugged. They had four hours until the show. Dying her hair would be manageable in that time. "Okay."

Hikaru blinked and looked at her. Did she really just say okay to purple hair? Shy, timid, Faye who jumped when you dropped a book. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"It's about time I got back to my old antics where my hair is involved," Faye sighed.

"Old antics? You dyed your hair wild colors before?"

"I walked around with a fiery combo of orange, red, and yellow for about four months before that, I had three different shades of green," Faye answered. "Hair to match the seasons. Hair dye was fun." She shrugged as she followed Yuzuha to the bathroom.

"Hikaru, do not change until I tell you too!" Yuzuha called.

"Yes mother," Hikaru answered dully. He moved to the couch and pulled his laptop onto his legs. He looked towards his bedroom bathroom when he heard music start playing. He recognized it as some of the hits that were playing in America and England.

A couple hours, Hikaru woke up to find Faye poking his cheek with one finger. He moaned and batted her hand away as he pushed himself up on the couch. After blinking a couple times he finally could make out Faye's face clearly. He backed away and blushed realizing just how close Faye was to him.

Faye was completely dress, her hair, now a pale purple was braided into a fishtail braid, and sure enough streaks of dark blue and purple were interspersed randomly in the pale color creating an interesting contrast that created a fuller look to her hair. She was in the dress he had made, the bust was a soft cotton topped with a lace-like cotton on top, creating a muted floral texture. The skirt of the dress was a cotton underskirt with a see through tulle on top. The bust and skirt of the dress were separated by a dark purple sash that was tied in a neat bow to the left.

"I didn't think I looked that bad," Faye frowned. She blinked drawing attention to the purple smoky eye effect that Yuzuha had given her. Pale lipstick added just enough color to her lips.

"No, you look really good!" Hikaru rushed to say. "My mom did a really great job."

Faye smiled and held out a hand. "Come on, you nee to get dressed so we can go. Your mother wants to arrive early."

Hikaru took her hand and was reminded of what his mother said about Faye being more open around Hikaru. He smiled when he saw that Faye was in a pair of white peep toe pumps that were made of a stiff semi-transparent fabric. His mother really had put together a really great look to match his dress.

Hikaru moved towards his room as Faye coughed slightly. "Hikaru," she spoke.

"Yes," he said turned quickly.

"The dress is perfect. Thank you." Faye picked clasped her hands in front of her and he noticed that her nails were a dark violet.

"You're what makes it work."

Faye blushed as Hikaru entered his room.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

Hikaru entered his apartment and found Faye sitting on his couch reading one of her textbooks. Her hair was still purple from the charity fashion show last week and it just seemed to make Hikaru smile all the time. She held up a magazine that was sitting next to her. "You made headlines, Hikaru," she said, turning a page of her textbook.

"Did they get my good side?" Hikaru said with a smirk. He pulled his scarf off and walked over to the couch and looked at the front of the magazine discarding the scarf on the floor.

_Fashion Heirs Find Themselves Attached_. He pulled it from Faye's hand and shook his head when he saw his brother with a disguised Kana Tolemei. Faye's mask managed to cover most of her friend's face except for her pale lips. Hikaru nodded in approval for the dress. Next to that photo was Hikaru and Faye, sitting side by side at the Fashion show laughing at something. It was hard to tell what. They had ended up laughing a lot as they exchanged muttered jokes just before the show started. He didn't really care what joke it was, he just knew that he loved Faye's laugh. It was light and flirty, and if you got her too excited she would laugh so much it made her sides hurt and she would start to cry. He couldn't remember ever being able to make Faye do that except for at the fashion show.

While some of the designs at the show showed a lot of promise, Hikaru found himself paying more attention to the commentator. He was the real entertainment of the day. He was announcing lines and exchanging barbs with the judging panel. He executed a joke at the drop of a hat. That kind of quick wit and comedic flair was exactly what the show needed.

Hikaru opened the magazine and quickly found the article. He sat down next to Faye as read quietly.

_Sorry ladies, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin appear to have found love while studying abroad. Hikaru (pictured left) is seen with Faye Bennett at the Paris Children's Charity Fashion Show, and can we just say that dress is stunning. Ms. Bennett's complete outfit just paints her as an innocent charmer, no matter what other tabloids say. _

Hikaru dropped the magazine and looked at Faye. "What do other tabloids say?"

"That I'm a liar, there's another story on the internet about how I'm using you. Just keep reading, it gets better," Faye said.

Hikaru lifted the magazine up and continued reading.

_As some in higher diplomatic circles may be aware, Faye Bennett made news in Toronto, Canada when she accused the British Ambassador's son of trying to assault her. One may wonder if there is an ulterior motive for the young Bennett as she cozies up to the older Hitachiin. _

Hikaru threw the magizine down on the ground and stomped on it angrily. "How can they publish that!" he asked.

"It's speculation, so they can't be sued for libel or slander," Faye said turning another page, though at this point, it was clear she wasn't really studying. "Don't worry about it. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to go with you to the fashion show. I already talked to my cousin. She'll figure something out. She's a real problem solver."

Hikaru looked up at the ceiling and thought about calling Kyoya. The Ootori had a way of making things disappear. He looked at Faye and found her hand shaking, and he couldn't figure out if it was out of anger or fear. He grabbed it with both hands and squeezed it. "This is my fault."

"No, it's not," Faye sighed. She pulled her hand away. "I knew that there was a strong chance this was going to happen. I'm not worried about it really. I know it's false, I hope you think it's false. That I've somehow lured you into being my friend."

"I'm the one who nearly stalked you until we became friends," Hikaru muttered as he crossed his arms. He gave her a side eyed glance. "Your cousin, what is she going to do?"

Faye shrugged as she closed her book. She dropped it on the coffee table and held up Hikaru's house key. "Thanks for this by the way," she said. She slipped it into her backpack at her feet and smiled. Hikaru had given her the key before the Fashion show, but she had never needed to use it. Hikaru left his door unlocked if he was expecting her. After finding the article at a small newsstand she bought the magazine and tucked herself away from prying eyes. "Kana looks fantastic though."

Hikaru groaned not even wanting to know what the article said about the

Halloween Ball his brother went to. He stepped on the magazine even more until the pages tore. "She did look good. Too bad you can't tell it's her."

Faye pushed herself off the couch and smiled. "That was the whole point, wasn't it?" she asked. "On the bright side, the attention is all on us, while your mom and Kana's grandmother arrange the merger in secret. I don't mind being in the news if it helps your mom and Kana."

Hikaru frowned. She shouldn't have been in the news to begin with. He couldn't help but feel culpable because he didn't once think that the media attention at the fashion show would have been used against her. She was just another person at the show having a good time. There was no reason to use her public appearance to paint her as some gold digging, attention seeking woman. No, he thought about it and that title belonged to her cousin, Ariel. Ariel was all about the attention, and he wondered if maybe she had something to do with the article.

Hikaru pulled out his phone and found a text from Kaoru. Apparently he saw the article online too. He smiled, the text was asking if Faye was okay. He quickly texted back and watched as Faye paced the room. "What are you thinking?"

"Ariel was at the fashion show, right?" Faye asked.

Hikaru nodded. He remembered the bottle redhead glaring daggers at Faye every time she laughed. It only made Hikaru want to tell more jokes. He actually enjoyed watching Ariel get angry. It was like it filled him with purpose. It was different from how he would get a rise out of Tamaki. This was more as a way to get back at the Chevalier family for shunning Faye and her parents. "Do you think she had something to do with this?"

Faye nodded. "Kana told me that my aunt has been trying to get her darling daughters with the two of you, and they've been dogged in their pursuits," she bit her thumb and looked at Hikaru. "I wouldn't be surprised if they gave the magazine this information because they thought I would run again. I mean I ran here to avoid Canadian and British media."

"You're going to leave?" Hikaru asked frantically. She couldn't leave. They were friends. She was was his only friend basically. There were people he talked to in class, sure, but Faye was an actual, honest to God, friend. He pushed himself out of the couch and stood in front of Faye. "You can't leave!"

Faye looking at Hikaru curiously as she cocked her head to the side. "I'm not leaving, Hikaru. I have school. I can't afford to leave. My mom is busy taking care of my little brothers while moving all over England to teach, and my dad has a job here that he actually likes. I'm here in France. I'm not going to jeopardize my schooling just because some article speculates that I'm after your fame and money," she said. She smiled at him and laughed slightly. "Call me crazy, but I think my friendship with you has made me stronger. My walls are coming down, but I'm stronger because for the first time I have someone like you."

"Like me?"

"You challenge me, Hikaru," Faye said. "More than that, you were quick to understand my past, and you look out for me. I'm safe around you. I mean look at me, I'm in your apartment alone, and I know you're not going to hurt me. When I had to leave Toronto, I had no friends to talk to, only family. And they're great. I have the best cousins in the world on my dad's side, but they're scattered all over, and only two are close to my age. Hikaru, I'm not running away because I know you're going to stick around."

Hikaru wasn't entirely sure what prompted him to do what he did next, but he went with his gut. Call it a whim, an impulse, a wondering fleeting thought, but he did it anyway. He was never really one to think things through. He was the impulsive twin. He recognized the deep sense of longing in the pit of his stomach, the feeling he thought only belonged to how he felt about Haruhi two years ago, but now he knew that wasn't the case. He took the last couple steps to close the space between him and Faye and he kissed her. Not a dirty, sloppy, passionate kiss that could be seen in any romantic movie, but a soft, gentle, kiss where he cupped her cheeks with his hands and just pressed his lips to hers.

He held her close and as he pulled his lips away. He found Faye looking dazed, but the smallest hint of a smile played at her lips. "I'm sorry," he apologized, blushing profusely. "I don't know why I did that."

Faye only blinked a couple of times before she looked around. Grabbing his jacket, she pulled him close and kissed him again as she hugged him. She backed up only a little bit and rested her forehead on his shoulder as Hikaru wrapped his arms around her. They stood like that, just hugging each other as they both tried to stop their racing hearts from beating out of their chests.

"I guess I'm not sorry," Hikaru laughed after a minute. Faye shook as she attempted to contain her laughter, but she only ended up snorting slightly as she stepped back and started giggling uncontrollably.

The two of them stood there laughing at each other for a few minutes before Hikaru dragged her over to the couch and hugged her close, the two breathing heavily with a couple of laughs interspersed.

"You're something else, Hikaru," Faye whispered.

Hikaru took a deep breath and thought about texting Kaoru. Faye hugged him tightly and he pushed the thought away, telling himself that his twin was likely in bed by now. "So what are we going to do about your cousin?" he asked seriously.

Faye took a deep breath. "I don't know."

0o0o0o0

The next day, Faye was sitting on one of the many campus benches waiting for Hikaru to finish his class so that the two of them could go have dinner with her dad. She was listening to music, bobbing her head gently to the classical music. She had her eyes trained on the ground as she smiled and thought about the kisses she had shared with Hikaru.

The headphones were ripped from her ears only seconds later. Faye yelped and looked up to find her aunt and cousin glaring at her. She stood up only to have Ariel shove her back into the bench.

"Stay away from Hikaru!" Ariel growled.

"Why, so you can have him all to yourself," Faye shot back. "News flash, he thinks you're an idiot."

"How dare you!" Gabrielle snapped. "You are so ungrateful. I allow you to work in my shop, even though having a known liar working for me is damaging. You should be happy you're allowed to do that much."

Faye glared at her cousin and aunt and grabbed her art bag. Ariel tore the bag away and pulled out the sketch book that held Faye's latest art project for class. She held it open ready to rip in half, causing Faye to pause.

"Don't!" Faye said quickly. She held her hands open, hoping, wishing that the sketchbook was in her hands.

"Stay away from Hikaru, or you'll have to start all over on that stupid little art project of yours."

"Tear the sketchbook and I'll have you expelled, Ariel!" a voice yelled.

Faye turned quickly and saw a young man with shaggy red hair and thick black rimmed glasses. She smiled when she saw that he was holding up a cell phone, likely recording the entire thing. "Spencer!" she smiled.

The young man walked over and stood next to Faye. "I mean it Ariel, get your grimy hands of my cousin's sketchbook or I'll send this right to the dean along with the emails you exchanged with your essay writer." His french was dripping with an underlying venom as he smiled with mock happiness and continued to hold the phone up.

"What are you doing here?" Gabrielle asked, surprised. "You're supposed to be in Cambridge."

"I got a phone call and thought a day trip to Paris was a good idea," Spencer smirked as he shrugged it off. Apparently he received phone calls all the time that gave him information. "Give me the sketchbook, Ariel. Don't think I won't take this to the dean."

Ariel angrily shoved the sketchbook into Faye's hands. "Next time I'm going to take that pretty picture of yours and drop it in the toilet!" she yelled before she stomped off.

"I'm still recording," Spencer called out.

Ariel let out a shrill growl of frustration as she yelled for her mother to follow her.

"You're fired," Gabrielle snapped before stomping off.

"That's great, I didn't want to work at you crappy store anyway," Faye muttered. She turned to Spencer and hugged him happily. "Oh my god, you are the best cousin in the world."

"Second best, I'm here on orders from my better half," he said hugging her back. He turned her around. "You're boyfriend is running over here."

Hikaru ran up quickly. "Did I just see Ariel shove you?" he asked quickly. He briefly looked at the redheaded Spencer and turned back to Faye. "Is everything okay?"

Faye nodded. "I was just being warned to stay away from you. Ariel tried to rip my sketches in half, but Spencer showed up and put an end to that."

Spencer held out a hand and smiled. "Spencer Masters, I'm Faye's cousin."

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Hikaru asked taking the hand and giving it a firm shake. He

"I got a phone call from my twin in Boston. She may have suggested that I come over and check on our favorite cousin. I being completely bored, I decided to skip my classes and head on over to Paris. I have a brother who's here for a week, so I'm staying with him for the night and then heading back to Cambridge in the morning."

"Thank you, Spencer," Faye smiled as she hugged her sketchbook close. She absolutely didn't want to have the sketch ruined. It was a landscape sketch of the gardens outside Hikaru's apartment, she was really proud of it, and she planned on using water colors to add a little more to the sketch after she inked it.

"I'm sorry, Faye, I tried to get here as soon as I could, but I was held back by some other students." Hikaru's shoulder's sagged. He blinked and turned his attention to Spencer. "How did you know exactly where to find Faye?"

Spencer pulled out his phone and unlocked the screen. "I activated my GPS app that I put on her phone. It has all my family members on here. As long as they have their phones on them, I can find them." He showed Hikaru the map with a blinking dot that had Faye's name above it. He moved tapped the screen and pulled up a list and tapped another name, _Bobby_. "See, there's my sister in Boston. She would have come, but is currently trying to deal with her house being broken into. This says she's staying at the Fairmont."

"What?" Faye shrieked. "Is she okay?"

Spencer nodded and smiled. "She's fine. Just shaken. She was more concerned about you."

Hikaru took the phone. "You made this app?" he asked.

Spencer nodded. "It's kind of my thing. I'm a computer science guy. I hack and create code, all the fun geeky stuff that is going to run the world one day. But hey, your dad is one wicked software designer."

"Thanks. I'll tell him you said that," Hikaru said. He looked at his watch. "We're going to be late to dinner if we don't hurry."

"Mind if I join?" Spencer asked. "I haven't talked to Uncle Grant for a while."

Faye nodded as she started packing up her bag again. When Ariel snatched it away some of her things had fallen out. She carefully slid the sketchbook inside and took Hikaru's hand. She kissed him on the cheek and started walking towards the edge of campus. Hikaru smiled, happy to know that there were people out there looking after Faye when he couldn't.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Faye woke up to her phone ringing. She could have sworn she had put the stupid thing on silent before she went to bed the night before, but like all things, sometimes life just didn't work out that way. With a moan, she pulled a hand out from under the covers and started feeling around for the cell phone on her bedside table. She grabbed the phone finally and with blurry eyes, answered it without a glance at the ID. "Hello," she said in tired, drawn out English.

"Faye?"

Faye sat up in her bed and pulled her hair out of her face by raking her fingers through the knots. "Hikaru, it's too early for me to function in Japanese. What do you want?" It took her a moment to realize that upon hearing Hikaru's voice, she had automatically spit out the Japanese. She groaned as she realized that at some point her automatic response was Japanese and not English. Even her father was starting to complain. _What happened to speaking your native tongue. You should be conversing in English like a normal girl from England, not Japanese._ Faye shook her head when she heard the gruff no nonsense voice of her father. She had to remind him that they were in a French speaking country so English wasn't actually a viable option for her. At least she grew up with Japanese.

"We were going to get breakfast today," Hikaru answered.  
>Faye fell back on her pillow. "It's Sunday isn't it?" she asked.<p>

"You forgot?"

"No, Hikaru, I just lost track of the days. I was up late working on an art thing."

"Can I come in, or is your dad going to glare at me because I have you speaking Japanese?"

"Dad's with the Ambassador in Lyon for something," Faye answered as she slid out of bed. She shuffled out of her bedroom, grabbing her robe on the way and slipping it on. "I'll let you in."

She opened her front door a minute later and smiled at Hikaru as she hung up. "I'm so sorry," she said. "Come on in."

Hikaru blushed when he looked at Faye's hip hugging plaid pajama bottoms and t-shirt as he stepped in. Faye smiled sheepishly and closed her robe and tied it off. Hikaru looked around. He had been in the house a couple times before, but for the most part, he had always been in the presence of Faye's father.

Faye started climbing the stairs to her room and Hikaru followed her. He stopped at her door as she opened up her closet and started looking at clothes. She turned to Hikaru after a minute. "Do I have to be cute, or can I wear what I normally wear?" she asked.

"You look good in what you usually wear," Hikaru said with a smile. And he was telling the truth. Faye wore what made her comfortable and as a result she always looked at ease in her outfits.

As she opened up around Hikaru and settled into the Paris scene she became less fashionista and more casual, messy, creative soul. She wore ripped jeans and flannel plaid and kept her hair in a messy bun. She started painting her nails once a week. Hikaru felt like Faye was starting to shift back into who she had been as a younger teenager. Someone, she thought she had to hide. She slowly was becoming just a little bit more physical, touching Hikaru's hand, mussing up his hair, hugging him. He took it as a sign of her absolute trust in him, and that thought was reassuring.

"Have you found a job yet?" Hikaru asked.

Faye nodded. "My cousin's Paris office needs a file clerk for their security files. He asked me if I wanted to do it. I need the job, so I said yes. It's low maintenance, so I can study."

"So we won't be able to hang out as much?" Hikaru asked.

"Unless you want a job as a file clerk," Faye shrugged grabbing jeans and a black graphic t-shirt and a grey cardigan. She shoved Hikaru out the door and closed it with a smile. "We'll still see each other at school and we'll go on dates." She spoke through the door, giving her voice a muffled tone, like Hikaru was trying to hear her through a funnel.

"You aren't going to be working that many hours are you?" Hikaru asked.

"Only around fifteen," Faye answered a minute later as she opened the door. She smiled at him as she pulled her long faded purple hair into a bun. She moved back into her room and grabbed one of her larger sketchpads and started flipping through the pages. She opened it up all the way and showed Hikaru a sketch of Paris monuments.

An invisible circle framed each monument with the scenery trying to break out. The tondo art was one of the many renaissance styles Hikaru was familiar with. Each monument was left in black and white charcoal and pencil while the grass and surrounding areas were in color. Unlike her photo project, the black and white of the sketch monument stood out as the focal point. The skies were blue, the grass was green, the cafe signs were vibrant, but the monuments stood in black and white unchanging. Hikaru smiled at the sketches as he held them carefully.

"You really like experimenting with color don't you?" Hikaru asked.

"I think that it provides a really interesting contrast," Faye answered. She started making her bed. "For those, the monuments are testaments of time, unchanging, clear as day, while the environment changes so it's colorful. I'm worried though."

Hikaru looked at Faye as she moved to her desk and gathered up her books. "Why are you worried?"

"Because the monuments are bland and black and white," she said. "Do you think it makes them come off as cold? That's the absolute last thing I want, so I'm not entirely sure how to approach it."

Hikaru looked at the drawings and held the sketches farther away. "You have the monuments emanating a blank aura," he said. There was a border around each monument. "If you fill it in then maybe it will be better. Then the color is leading towards the monument. What do you think?"

Faye came up and hugged Hikaru's arm as she studied her own artwork. She pointed at the windows of Notre Dame. "This is the South Rose window. It's stained glass, what if I colored that in too?"

Hikaru nodded. "That way you're drawing the attention of the sketch to the beauty of the cathedral's architecture," he said, blushing slightly. "And for the Eiffel tower, what if you did sunset when the tower lights up."

"That's a great idea!" Faye said excitedly. She took the sketchbook and put it on an easel. She looked around for her bag. "Now, I need food." She bent down and picked up the hobo bag with Disney's Belle and Beast dancing and she looked in it. She closed the bag and pulled the strap over her head and let the bag rest on her hip.

Hikaru smiled at her and let her leave the room before he did. He pulled his door closed and followed Faye down the stairs. She grabbed her house keys and waited for Hikaru to walk out before she pulled the door closed.

"Have you thought about displaying your art?" Hikaru asked.

"As a student, I show my art as a part of the class."

"I mean in a real gallery," Hikaru said. "Those photos where they were black and white but then my mom's lips were colored, or my scarf. Those belong in galleries."

Faye shook her head as she turned around and walked backwards. "I never really thought about it," she answered. "I just always kept the art to myself or gave it to my family. My cousin Bobby has a sketch of her family's home in Galway hanging in her room back in England. She gave me a photo and asked me if she could replicated it."

"Where's Galway?"

"West Ireland. It's where her dad's family came from. Her grandfather came to England for work ended up finding a wife and stayed, but the family home is still standing in one of the townlands, and Bobby and Spencer will go there if they want to get away from England. My mom is from Belfast, Northern Ireland, before she was adopted by the Chevaliers, so that's where my family will end up going when they don't want to be in England."

"Have you ever been to the Galway house?"

Faye nodded. "It's in the middle of an Irish speaking community. I think that's why the twins go there. Because it's a sense of community. Full immersion."

"Do you speak Irish?" Hikaru asked.

Faye nodded. "Raised on it with my cousins. Irish at my uncles, Japanese at my neighbors, and my father wonders why I can't speak English." Faye laughed as they walked down the road.

Hikaru laughed with her. It had to be interesting, being raised with more than one language. He hadn't started learning other languages until he was in entering middle school. That's when his mother enrolled the twins in French and English. For their mother, those were the two languages that the twins were going to need in the Fashion industry. While Hikaru was fluent in both languages, he always felt at ease with Japanese. English was easier, despite how complicated the language was. He considered his year in Boston to have been the best practice he could get. Faye was different though. She had grown up with at least three languages.

"How hard is it for you to speak in those languages?"

Faye turned to face Hikaru and shrugged. "When I was little, my mother told me that immersion was always the best thing for languages. With my cousins, they only spoke Irish, and to an extent, they continue to only speak Irish to each other, so if I wanted to communicate, I had to learn. When I was in Canada, French was required learning at my school, and in order to get me up to a good level, Dad had me do French immersion for high school. Then there was Japanese immersion at my friend's home. When you're surrounded by something, it's easier to get a hand on the language."

"How many languages does your mother speak?"

Faye mentally counted on her fingers. "She can speak five, but can read more. My mom as an academic is versed in Old English and Old Irish, but that's reading. She speaks German, French, English, Japanese, and Irish."

"Are your cousins polyglots too?" Hikaru asked.

"When you do international business, you kind of need to," Faye said. "Brandon and Chase I think only speak five. Irish, English, French, Japanese, and Arabic. Spencer and Bobby are naturals for language acquisition. They're up to seven each. But for that family languages are easy I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"Their mom speaks nine, and their dad speaks twelve," Faye answered. "The language acquisition for that family it frankly quite terrifying. But on a business level they're able to go farther, and work in countries without a translator."

Hikaru laughed slightly. Listening to Faye talk about her family so freely was something that was new. She would talk about her mom and dad in the vaguest ways possible, but once Spencer showed up at her school that day, she had opened up about her extended family and how the Masters were the family to stand by Faye and her parents when the Chevaliers wouldn't. The Masters family took care of their own, and it was something that gave Faye great comfort. She looked up to her cousins and Hikaru could understand it so well. He thought about the Host Club and how that was, in an obscure fashion, his own Masters family. The Host Club wouldn't stand for nonsense, and they backed each other up. This kind of a camaraderie was the type of thing that really close families had.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

Faye sat in front of her laptop and was smiling at her cousin. "Bobby, you look really good. The California Sun is doing you wonders," she laughed, her Irish coming out fluidly. She leaned back in her desk chair and turned to look at the painting she had just finished. "So how are things going with Kana?"

"Kana's doing pretty great. She's got this merger in the bag." Bobby said. "She's keeping her head on straight. She's allowing the others to freak out about it, but she's all calm and collected. I'm quite proud of her."

Faye nodded as she grabbed a charcoal pencil and her sketch pad. "And how are you doing?" she asked. She had been talking with Spencer a lot, and she knew that Bobby was having some troubles in Boston, but she wasn't entirely sure what.

"I think I made a mistake coming to the US," Bobby sighed. She pulled her kinky red hair out of her eyes. "Well sometimes I feel like that. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it while I wait for this ponzi scheme guy to show up. I think the transfer to Harvard will be a good move. That being said, I'm really looking forward to spending the summer in Galway."

"Are you going to spend the entire summer there?" Faye asked as she started basic lines for a figure drawing. "Do you want to talk about why you hate the US?"

"I'm being sent to the hospital once a month because that woman thinks I'm still trying to get my ex back," Bobby grumbled. "It's not something I enjoy."

"She can't really think that," Faye said looking up.

Bobby grumbled. "And then Bradley broke into my condo," Bobby said. "It's enough to make a girl want to go home crying to her mum."

Faye frowned. She had heard about the break-in from Spencer, but she didn't want to pry too much. "You okay?" she asked.

Bobby sighed and picked at her nails. "I'll get by," she answered. "What about you? I can tell you're happier from your emails. Finally settling into the way things are in France? What about working for my brother. I know he can be a tool, but he means well."

"Of course he means well," Faye smiled. She ignored the fact that Bobby changed the subject. She told herself that she would just get the information from her when they met up in London in less than a month. Bobby was much more likely to open up in person than over a skype call. "The work is really good. I'm learning more about your business than I ever wanted to know."

"Not my business," Bobby corrected. "I only have the name."

"Your brother gives me work to do, but there are periods where I've finished work, so I study," Faye explained. "I really like the work. It's really interesting, but I had to sign stupid non-disclosure agreements about our clients."

Bobby nodded. "We take our security very seriously. I think the only people who have complete knowledge of what kinds of security everyone is ordering is my father and brothers. I'm left in the dark for it all. Unless Dad needs me to do something for him."

"You haven't stolen something for a while have you?"

"Until Dad calls, I don't," Bobby sighed. "Literally the only thing I can do for my dad's company is break his systems so they can fix them, and he won't even let me."

"Is he still mad?" Faye asked.

"I did kind of mess up," Bobby said.

"Because of me," Faye said looking away from the computer. The guilt that she had pushed down for so long started to rise once more. She had managed to move on from the incidents of her past, but she would always regret getting Bobby involved.

"No." Bobby's tone was stern and protective. It was a strange combination that Faye had only heard coming from her uncle. How Bobby managed to adopt it baffled the blond. Bobby couldn't be farther from her father.

"Yes," Faye said, but didn't add any more.

"Faye, I acted on my own. The fact that it's stayed out of headlines is the only thing going for me," Bobby said. She scratched her head and yawned before she looked back to the computer screen. Faye could see that it was pitch black outside her window. It had to be past midnight in California.

"Bobby, you still came because I called."

"And I would do it again," Bobby said as she yawned again. She patted her cheeks and blinked a few times before giving up. "Okay, you're about to lose me. Don't worry so much. Give Uncle my love, and tell Hikaru that I've got my eyes on him."

"Bobby!" Faye laughed. She shook her head and laughed. "I love you Bobby."

"Love you too, cousin," Bobby said before ending the skype call.

Faye pushed herself away from her desk and looked at her paintings once more. She smiled at the landscape she had completed. She had taken Hikaru's statements to heart when he said that her work should be in a gallery. Well, she sort of did. There was a cafe near her home that sold artist's painting. She talked to the owner, and showed him some of her works. He wanted them on his walls as soon as possible, thinking that there would be tourists and art lovers who would want them. She had her mom ship some of her paintings over and Faye was going to take them to the cafe with Hikaru in the next morning before they went to their classes. On the back of each painting, she had a sticker put on with a price that she felt was reasonable.

She smiled at the thought of having some extra money on top of her job at Master's security. Things actually were looking up for her and she couldn't recall feeling this happy about a development in her life for at least a couple years. Now that Faye was out of the drama filled environment of High School and the toxic relationships that came with it, she was in France and happy because she was getting to study what she wanted to study, talk to people she wanted to talk to. She was finally able to do everything she had wanted to do in high school, but was told she couldn't for some reason. There was only so much she could do in Toronto, while Paris and her relationship with Hikaru opened her up once more.

She slid out of her chair and grabbed her paintings and moved them towards the door. She had a free day. She wouldn't be able to truly have a lot of fun. She had to study for history and review her notes for Gothic Period Art. It was a study day, but at least it was something that she actually enjoyed.

Faye grabbed a cup on her desk and left her room. As she came down the stairs the front door open and she smiled ready to greet her dad. "Hey, Dad!"

"Oh sweetie, I know I'm not around all the time, but really?"

Faye blinked and her smile grew even more. "Mom!" She ran forward and wrapped her arms around the woman's neck. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't I come see you and your father?" Jane Bennett asked as she pushed Faye's hair out of her face. "I just missed you so much."

"Where are the boys?" Faye asked as she looked around.

"With your aunt in Cambridge," Jane answered. "I thought they would like some time with Lizzie and Spencer."

Faye laughed as she hugged her mother again. "I'm sure Spencer is thrilled. and playing video games." She stepped back and started walking to the kitchen. "I'll make some tea."

"That sounds like a good idea. I feel like we need to talk."

Faye faltered slightly. "About what?"

"You, of course. School. France. I'm a concerned mother," Jane said with a hint of a laugh. "I just want you to check in more."

"I call," Faye said.

"But I mean I _really_ want you to check in more."

"How are classes?"

"Actually that's why I'm here. I need to talk to your father."

"Oh no." Faye said as they entered the kitchen. She grabbed their kettle and filled it with water quickly as her mother turned the gas stove on. Faye handed over the kettle and Jane placed it on the hot metal rack. She moved to the small dining table set by a window as Faye grabbed some cookies and a plate to put them on. "What's going on."

"I'm going to Harvard next year," Jane answered. "Possibly. Like I said. I need to talk to your father."

"You got the Fulbright!" Faye exclaimed happily. She slid the plate onto the table and sat down. "Mum, that's fantastic!"

"I don't know if I'll take it," Jane admitted.

Faye narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? A Fulbright, Mum. That's been a dream of yours. To teach at Harvard for a year about Domestic Tragedies."

"But I would have to bring the boys with me. I don't know if they'll like that. I've moved them around enough."

"Mum, the boys don't care. I'm sure if they had a problem that Auntie would let them stay with her," Faye said. "Auntie would do anything for you. You're like… Best friends."

Jane nodded and looked around the house. "I just want to talk to your father about it first before I make any final decisions. He's always been supportive, but I wish to discuss things with him. Let's talk about you. How are your classes."

The kettle started to whistle and Faye jumped up and pulled the kettle off the stove before she grabbed a some cups from the cupboard. She started talking about her art history class, and told her mother about the possibility of focusing on Renaissance art because it was filled with interesting concepts and colors. This was something that her mother immediately jumped up in glee. The Renaissance period was after all where their family seemed to focus their attentions. Jane was an expert on domestic tragedies, Faye was going to restore Renaissance art, and Bobby was a Shakespeare aficionado.

Faye shook her head. "Bobby likes Shakespeare, understands it, appreciates it, and analyzes it, but she's more of an expert of Celtic lore. Pre-middle ages."

"You both could do so much for the world of Academia," Jane sighed happily. "I raised such a smart girl. And I take full responsibility for getting Bobby interested in the world of Academia."

"She's going into publishing."

Jane pouted. "Must you always spoil the good mood?"

"Sorry, Mum," Faye said as she poured the tea. She smiled and shook her head. Her mother had been trying to get Faye dandruff Bobby into the Academic world for years. She always complained that she was all alone. Ignoring the fact that Faye's aunt wasn't just a well know cellist and investor, but that she was one of the top musicologists in England and often gave guest lectures at music conservatories when her schedule permitted.

"So tell me about Hikaru," Jane prompted. She accepted a cup and held the saucer. "Your father is in a total snit about him. He likes him of course, but he sure has his panties in a bunch over the fact that you're using your Japanese."

Faye laughed as she sat down again. "I really like him, Mum. He's pulled me out of my shell again. I thought that wouldn't happen." She continued to talk about his ambitions to take over his mother's fashion company with his twin. She got a dreamy glint in her eye as she talked about the fashion show and Hikaru's dress. She explained in stuttering detail how Hikaru and Faye ended up kissing out of nowhere and how she felt like it was just right.

Jane smiled grabbing some sugar and popping a few spoon fulls into the teacup. "I look forward to meeting him," She said stirring the tea. She could see the light in her daughter's eyes as she talked about her boyfriend. Hikaru would be an interesting person to meet because it was obvious to the mother that Faye was slowly returning back to her normal bubbly self. She had noticed the change even before Hikaru and Faye had started dating. Emails had more exclamation points, she was happier over the phone, and even her father had begrudgingly admitted that the boy was good for Faye.

"How long will you be here?"

"A few days. Then I have to go back," Jane explained. "Tell me about your art."

Faye laughed as she launched into another open ended monologue. She was just so happy to have her mom around.

0o0o0o0

June 10, 2014, Author's Note: Hey friends! I know you're all quite busy with your lives, and so am I. I'm giving you a set of chapters right now, but I'm going to warn you right now of some delays in updating. I leave for a tour of Ireland and England tomorrow. I'll still be writing new chapters, but updating may not happen. The tour is three weeks long. So be patient and you may get many chapters updated when I return. I'll have my laptop, but I'm not really soaking up the culture if I'm constantly updating fic, right? I'll see you all when I get back, and I hope you liked that chapter. Please leave a review if you get a chance. I love to hear from you all.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Hikaru didn't want to get out of bed. If he got out of bed, it meant that it was time to say good-bye to Faye. She would leave for London now that they were done with their classes until the New Year. He had gotten used to Faye's company and now they were in a relationship. He asked her if she wanted to come to Japan with him, but she told him that she had already made plans with Bobby and Spencer to do a road trip through Wales and then they would go to Dublin. But Faye had promised him that she would send postcards to his Paris address and keep in touch with him.

He really did want to go back to Japan though. He would be with the host club again. He would be able to talk in private with Kaoru without the need to use an internet connection. He could see how Haruhi was doing with Tono. He would get to talk to the entire Host Club and he would be home. As much as Paris was amazing and Faye was there, there was something about going home to see his mother and father, and more importantly, his brother. Home was familiar, comfortable, and perfect.

Hikaru finally dragged himself out of bed and blew out a long breath. Things were going to change when he went home. He would personally update everyone. Meet new people, be involved in a merger that would expand multiple companies. There was so much that was going to happen and he was both trepidatious and excited. It was going to be amazing and terrifying all at once.

Fifteen minutes later, he was walking towards Faye's place. He paused in front of a flower shop. He smiled at the small bouquet of tulips and poppies. He wondered where they had come from, thinking that they didn't bloom in the middle of winter. He pulled out some euros and handed them to the woman who ran the shop. He took the bouquet and sniffed at it. He almost laughed. He was buying flowers for Faye. How cliché and terribly romantic? Hikaru thought sardonically. How could he just show up with flowers? He couldn't say they were for her mom. After all, her mom went back to the UK.

Hikaru stopped at Faye's front door and just before he could knock on the door, the door opened. Faye smiled at him and pulled him in. "Good morning," she said. She kissed him on the cheek and sat back on a suitcase. "Ready to go back to Tokyo?"

Hikaru held out the flowers. "Ready to go back to London?" he asked as a way to deflect the question about them both leaving France temporarily.

Faye gestured to her suitcase and laughed slightly. She smiled at the flowers but made no move to grab them. She scratched her eyebrow and took a deep breath. "It's going to be a long two weeks. I'll miss you," she said. She stood up and smiled as she walked around the living room. She turned around to face Hikaru with a shrug. "But I also know that in the grand scheme of things, it will only be a matter of time before I'm back here and working on school work again. I should enjoy the trip with my cousins and then we'll be ready for school, rested and rejuvenated."

Hikaru nodded and held the bouquet out. "I saw these and thought they would look nice in your kitchen back in London."

"Thank you," Faye said taking them. She buried her nose in the flowers and took a deep whiff. She smiled as she looked up. She put the flowers on the coffee table and picked up a wrapped gift. "I got this for you," she said. "Happy Christmas."

"I already sent yours to London," Hikaru said with a smile, taking the gift. "Don't open it early."

"Only if you will do the same." Faye said. "You can't open this early." She pointed at the gift. She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried not to smile. There was something so simple to their playful little exchange. She thought about how that would now have to take place over text messages and instant messages, with a little bit of a time difference. Make that a large time difference. London to Tokyo was an eight-hour time difference. So sometimes she might have to wait for a few hours for a response. Rather Hikaru would have to wait more often because she was behind in time. She would usually be able to catch him unless it was the middle of the night.

Hikaru groaned. "Why couldn't you come to Japan with Kana?" he asked crossing his arms, hugging the gift close. "Why do you have to go to Ireland with Bobby?"

Faye shook her head. "It's really for the better that Bobby and I stay out of this whole deal. We don't want something to go wrong because we're seen in Japan. It's a well-documented fact that Bobby is a close friend to the Tolemei family and that the Tolemeis and Masters spend the holiday season together. If we're gallivanting around the United Kingdom and Ireland, then you stand a better chance of things working out for the better." Faye hated the reasoning, but couldn't fault the logic. Already, she had a phone full of selfies with Kana that Spencer whipped together in a matter of seconds. She would post them while they went running around on a small vacation (ha! touching three countries was anything but small). Everything had been planned out. They weren't going to let anything go wrong. But she wondered if that was really the case.

With as many moving pieces as there were to this plan, it was a bit troubling that Hikaru was so calm about everything. Maybe it was because she grew up around security protocols and the world of British Politics that made her look at something so seamless with some speculation. After all, how could she expect this to go according to plan, when there didn't really appear to be a plan B. Did Kana know something she didn't and was just keeping it to herself?

"We should go. I don't want to miss my train," Faye said quickly. "The cab should be here soon."

Just then the two college students heard a honk of a horn.

"Speak of the Devil." Hikaru muttered. He grabbed Faye's suitcase more out of polite manners than an urgency to get to the train station. As he dragged the suitcase behind him, he thought about the gift he had gotten for Faye. He knew she would like it. He knew that she would use it, he just wondered if perhaps it was too much. He didn't really know how to shop small. It was just something he couldn't do. How do you shop small when your mother was known for always going big? There was no such thing as too much in the Hitachiin family when it came to holiday shopping. There was always the next best thing that they could get for each other. But for Faye, he really had to think about it all and he liked what he had found. He wondered if she would like it as well.

Faye locked her front door as she adjusted the band of her shoulder bag. She grabbed Hikaru's hand as the cab driver took her suitcase and put it in the trunk. As they slid into the back seat, Faye moved so that she could put on her seat belt. Once safely tucked into the back of the cab, she grabbed Hikaru's hand and started tracing the lines of his palm. "It's going to be an interesting two weeks without you teasing me all the time."

"I'll find a way to make it work." Hikaru smirked and looked out the window. "When you get flustered these little pink patches show up around your cheeks and you lips pinch together when you try to find a response. It's funny to look at."

Faye tried to cross her arms indignantly, but Hikaru wouldn't let go of her hand. She frowned and stared at her fingers as they wove around his. Fine. She wouldn't cross her arms, but she would mess with him a little about his teasing. "Jerk." she muttered with a hint of a laugh. "Let go of my hand."

"Bossy," Hikaru replied. He absorbed the moment and committed it to memory. Two weeks away from Paris was going to be good for him. Two weeks with the Host Club was going to be great. He also reassured himself that he could probably convince Faye to come to Japan with him for their two-week break at the end of winter. Kaoru still wouldn't meet her for a while. That was a bit disappointing, but he would figure something out.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen:

Hikaru was stomping his feet as he tried to warm up. While he loved being back among friends, he wanted to step out for a moment. He pulled out his cell phone and smiled at Faye's face. He jumped slightly when the phone started buzzing and singing an Irish jig. A different photo of Faye blowing a kiss popped up with her name. It had been a joke before they were even a couple. She was talking about some of the things that her cousin was doing just to get a rise out of Kyoya. Hikaru took the opportunity to capture a photo and he saved it as her call photo.

Hikaru pulled the phone up to his ear. With a smile, he answered. "Hey,"

"Hi." Faye was whispering, he could hear it. The way she had her hand cupped over the bottom of her phone and her chin.

"Where are you?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm in the kitchen. . . well one of them."

"One of them?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, Bobby's parents are divorced, but they live in a giant house with basically two of everything. I think this is her mom's."

"That's a weird living arrangement," Hikaru said.

"Bobby and Spencer live on their mom's side, the older monsters live out of the house," Faye said almost as if she was suppressing the laughter as if the situation was too much. "They're weird, but I think they still love each other. They just hate marriage. But that's beside the point. How are you?"

Hikaru smiled. "Good," he said looking around the garden of Ouran High. He caught sight of the Host Club running around playing a commoner game. "Did you ever play kick the can?"

There was a pause on the line. "Uh… no, I don't think I did," Faye said. "I usually was drawing or I would play Sardines with the others."

"Sardines?" Hikaru asked.

"It's hide and seek, but only one person hides. Then the others look. If you find them, you hide with them until you're all packed in tight like a can of Sardines. Because Kana and I are so petite and we were smaller than the others, we got to be really good at it. Bobby too, but her red hair was a problem so she would usually wear a sweater with her hood up the entire time. We actually just did this large scavenger hunt around London. That was really cool. Why did you ask about kick the can?"

"The host club is playing."

"It's a bit chilly isn't it? Playing outside is a little odd,"

"You went on a scavenger hunt in London. Doesn't it snow there?"

"Bobby was supplying me hot beverages the entire time and I was likely much more prepared for winter than you were. Even in Paris you would shiver all the time," Faye laughed.

Hikaru closed his eyes and smiled as he imagined Faye's face. Any time she laughed her cheeks would become rounder, her dimples more prominent, and her blue eyes would sparkle. It was something about Faye that just made her far more beautiful.

"Why can't you come to Japan with Kana?" Hikaru asked.

"You'll see me soon enough. School start back up the first week of January," Faye said. "I miss you though. It weird. I miss all Paris and the little pocket of wonderful we have there."

"Minus your cousin."

"I'm surrounded by cousin's I like here, so it's not so bad. The Chevalier family isn't the most important family relation I have, nor are they the richest," Faye said with a laugh. "Still, it's weird being away from Paris. We have our routine there. And while I don't consider a lot of the students there my friends, I have people I know, talk to, and catch up with. Then there's you."

"Our fellow students are pretty boring," Hikaru said blandly. He waved to Kaoru who gave him a questioning look. "Have you opened my gift?"

He heard Faye laugh. "No. It's not Christmas yet. I'm excited to open it though," she said.

Hikaru blew out a sigh and stomped his feet to get some warmth coursing threw his body. "I hope you like my gift."

"I'm sure it's fantastic," Faye said. "I hope you enjoy mine."

Hikaru smiled as he waved to his twin one more time. "I should probably go or the Host Club is going to take my phone."

"I should probably check on my family. Take some tea up to Bobby's room and work on some art,"

"Is her room the place to be."

"It is when you want some privacy or quiet time. Bobby has this amazing set up for books and art; it's a total oasis away from all the guys. She even has double locks on the doors."

"I thought you would be dying to spend time with your little brothers,"

"I missed them, but I didn't miss them that much. They're tiny terrors, really," Faye said. "Maybe you'll meet them one day. My mom might take them to Boston, but they may stay here with aunt Lizzie."

"Would Bobby have to babysit your brothers?"

"Without argument. She loves the terrors," Faye said. There was a pause on the line. "Most of the time. I think she would agree to it just to get on Kyoya's nerves."

"I think I like your cousins," Hikaru said. "They go after the Chevalier family, and Bobby is in a prank tango with Kyoya."

Faye laughed. "Go hang out with your friends. I'm going to go tuck myself away from the rest of the family. They can all get pretty loud. There's a lot of us."

"Tell your father I said hello."

Faye laughed again and Hikaru said good-bye.

"Take care, Hikaru."

0o0o0o0

Faye hung up her call and grabbed a serving tray from a cupboard. She started a kettle of water. "Kana!" she called, her voice barely carrying through the massive kitchen. Still the petite black haired friend came skipping in a plaid a-line skirt that hugged her small waist. Her black button up silk shirt with green wreaths and red Santa hats was tucked into the skirt. "You rang?" she sang.

"I'm taking tea up to Bobby because she's feeling poorly," Faye said. "You'll come with me?"

"Hell yeah," Kana said. "Honestly, I could do with some time away from my brothers. When they get around Spencer and the older ones, it's like they gain ten times the energy they normally have," she groaned as she braced her elbows against the granite countertop.

"It's so bad isn't it?" Faye sighed. "We're far outnumbered here. My three younger brothers, Bobby's three older brothers, my three older brothers, they combine to make this giant hive mentality hell bent on our destruction. It's just too much." She grabbed a couple of teacups and saucers. She grabbed some milk from a fridge, sugar cubes from another cupboard, and placed them all neatly on the tray.

"I love coming here. Everyone puts effort into serving tea," Kana said as she pulled the kettle off the stove. Faye pushed an elegant teapot with a black and white sketch from Alice in Wonderland. "Plus, Bobby's good tea set from Wittard is here."

"Have you seen the one that mixes Asian art with classic English etching styles?" Faye asked.

"No, such a thing exists?"

"It's pretty neat, if a tad bit exotic for casual use," Faye said. "I think Bobby took it with her to Boston. Ask her about it. God it's so nice to have you here. I really have missed being able to see you." Faye set a quick timer for the tea to properly steep in the teapot.

"I'll come to Paris for Spring break. Drag Kaoru along. How does that sound?" Kana said. "Have you spoken to Hikaru today?"

"Just finished a phone call with him. He's hanging out with the Host Club today, er they're eight hours ahead right?"

Kana looked at the small watch on her wrist. "Yeah, it's like six in the evening."

"And they're playing games outside," Faye said shaking her head. "Idiots."

"Perhaps it's very well lit," Kana said with a shrug. "You and Hikaru are really close, right."

"He's the only friend I have in Paris really."

"And he's your boyfriend," Kana supplied as he timer went off and she pulled the diffuser out. She took the teapot over to the tray and lifted it up. "That's a bonus," she laughed as she started walking towards a slim staircase.

Faye blushed as she followed. "I didn't expect to end up liking him," she said quietly. "After he found out about the ambassador's son attacking me, I got so mad. I wasn't sure I would forgive him for digging into my life. But then he tried. It's been a while since an outsider tried to understand."

"Well it's certainly better than having the brother crawling into bed with me while I slept."

Faye paused. "That's a little … odd."

"He was trying to catch me off guard," Kana said with a laugh. "It's good to see you happy again. I saw you just before you went back and he… well you know. You locked yourself away. Bobby was my only way of talking to you because she flew out to Toronto to help with your move."

"Getting her involved sucked," Faye sighed. "I wish it had never happened. I got a lot of people into hot water with it all. My mom can't get a consistent job, dad is the subject of whispers. People either believe me or they don't." She started fiddling with her nails.

"The people who believe you are the ones that matter, you know that right," Kana said. "That never really settled down did it?"

"You're asking if there was a resolution?" Faye asked. She shook her head with a laugh. "No. He's still as his smarmy private school, and I'm building my life back up in Paris."

"There's no better place," Kana said with a dreamy sigh. "Paris, the city of love."

Faye laughed as they walked down the hall. They paused outside Bobby's slightly open bedroom door. They paused and listened to Bobby on a phone call.

"Sleep well Kyoya. And Happy Christmas because I'll likely won't talk to you until later."

Faye and Kana exchanged a look and suppressed a giggle.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Sorry for any delays. I've moved into a new place, my hard drive had to be replaced, and school started but I've had chapters just sitting in my document folder. I have a chapter for every story done, but am working on edits. I hope you enjoyed this little bit, and if you did, leave a review if you can, favorite the story if you can't.

Spirit


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